The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001

PART I PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and revocation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force—

(a) for the purposes of this paragraph and regulation 17, on 21st March 2001, and

(b) for all other purposes, on 1st September 2001.

(2) The regulations specified in Schedule 1 are hereby revoked.

Interpretation: general

2.—(1) In these Regulations the following expressions shall have the following meanings—

“the Act” means the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994;

“agricultural machine” means a vehicle which is—

(a)

an agricultural tractor, as defined in paragraph 4B(2) of Schedule 1 to the Act(1), or

(b)

an off-road tractor, as defined in paragraph 4B(4) of that Schedule, or

(c)

a light agricultural vehicle, as defined in paragraph 4C(2) of that Schedule, or

(d)

an agricultural engine, or

(e)

a mowing machine;

“the Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 2411/98(2) on the recognition in intra-community traffic of the distinguishing signs of member states in which motor vehicles are registered;

“dual purpose plate” means a plate or other device which displays both the registration mark of the vehicle and the international distinguishing sign of the United Kingdom in accordance with the Council Regulation;

“EEA State” means a state which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

“motor cycle” means a vehicle having 2 wheels and includes a vehicle of that description in combination with a sidecar;

“motor tricycle” means a vehicle having 3 wheels symmetrically arranged;

“quadricycle” means a vehicle having four wheels, a maximum net engine power not exceeding 15 kilowatts and an unladen mass (excluding the mass of batteries in the case of an electrically-powered vehicle) not exceeding—

(a)

550 kilograms in the case of a goods vehicle, and

(b)

400 kilograms in any other case;

“registration plate” means a plate or other device displaying the registration mark of the vehicle and in the case of a dual purpose plate means such part of the plate as is not intended for the display the international distinguishing sign of the United Kingdom in accordance with the Council Regulation;

“prescribed font” means the style shown in Schedule 4 for a character of the height specified in that Schedule;

“relevant date” means—

(a)

in Great Britain, 1st October 1938, and

(b)

in Northern Ireland, 1st January 1948;

“works truck” means a vehicle which is—

(a)

designed for use in private premises, and

(b)

used on public roads only—

(i)

for carrying goods between private premises and a vehicle on a road in the immediate vicinity, or

(ii)

in passing from one part of private premises to another or between private premises and other private premises in the immediate vicinity, or

(iii)

in connection with road works at or in the immediate vicinity of the site of the works.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference in these Regulations to—

(a) a registration plate fixed or to be fixed to a vehicle, or

(b) a registration mark displayed or to be displayed on a plate,

is to be construed, where the vehicle is towing a trailer, so as to include a reference to the registration plate which is required under these Regulations to be fixed to the trailer or a reference to the mark displayed on the plate fixed to that trailer.

Exempt vehicles

3.  Nothing in these Regulations applies to—

(a) an invalid vehicle, that is a vehicle the unladen weight of which does not exceed 254 kilograms and which is specially designed and constructed, and not merely adapted, for the use of a person suffering from a physical disability and solely used by that person; or

(b) a pedestrian-controlled vehicle, that is a vehicle the unladen weight of which does not exceed 450 kilograms which is neither constructed nor adapted for the carriage of a driver or passenger.

(1)

Paragraphs 4B and 4C of Schedule 1 were inserted by the Finance Act 1995, Schedule 4, paragraph 10.

(2)

OJ No. L 299, 10.11.98, p. 1.