Transport Act 1968

Construction of agreements, statutory provisions and documents

7 Where in the case of any transfer to which this Schedule applies any of the rights or liabilities transferred are rights or liabilities under an agreement to which the transferor was a party immediately before the transfer date, whether in writing or not, and whether or not of such nature that rights and liabilities thereunder could be assigned by the transferor, that agreement shall have effect on and after the transfer date as if—

(a) the transferee had been a party to the agreement, and

(b) for any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to the transferor there were substituted, as respects anything falling to be done on or after the transfer date, a reference to the transferee, and

(c) any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to any officer or any servant of the transferor were, as respects anything falling to be done on or after the transfer date, a reference to such person as the transferee may appoint or, in default of appointment, to the officer or servant of the transferee who corresponds as nearly as may be to that officer or servant of the transferor, and

(d) where the agreement refers to property, rights or liabilities which fall to be apportioned or divided between the transferor and the transferee, as if the agreement constituted two separate agreements separately enforceable by and against the transferor and the transferee respectively as regards the part of the property, rights and liabilities retained by the transferor or, as the case may be, the part thereof vesting in the transferee and not as regards the other part;

and sub-paragraph (d) of this paragraph shall apply in particular to the covenants, stipulations and conditions of any lease by or to the transferor.

8 Save as otherwise provided by any provision of this Act (whether expressly or by necessary implication) paragraph 7 of this Schedule, except sub-paragraph (a) thereof, shall apply in relation to any statutory provision, any provision of any agreement to which the transferor was not a party, and any provision of any document other than an agreement, if and so far as the provision in question relates to any of the transferred rights and liabilities, as it applies in relation to an agreement to which the transferor was a party, and, in relation to any such statutory or other provision as aforesaid, references in sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) of that paragraph to the transferor and to any officers or servants of the transferor include references made by means of a general reference to a class of persons of which the transferor is one, without the transferor himself being specifically referred to.

9 On and after the transfer date for any transfer to which this Schedule applies, any statutory provision to which paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 6 to the Act of 1962 applies if and so far as the provision in question relates to any of the transferred rights and liabilities, shall have effect as if—

(a) any of the references modified by paragraph (a) of the said paragraph 2(3) were, as respects anything falling to be done on or after the transfer date, a reference to such person as the transferee may appoint, and

(b) any of the references modified by paragraph (b) of the said paragraph 2(3) were, as respects a period beginning with the transfer date, a reference to so much of the undertaking of the transferee as corresponds as mentioned in the said paragraph (b).

10 Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of paragraphs 7 to 9 of this Schedule, the transferee under a transfer to which this Schedule applies and any other person shall, as from the transfer date, have the same rights, powers and remedies (and in particular the same rights and powers as to the taking or resisting of legal proceedings or the making or resisting of applications to any authority) for ascertaining, perfecting or enforcing any right or liability transferred to and vested in the transferee by virtue of this Act as he would have had if that right or liability had at all times been a right or liability of the transferee, and any legal proceedings or applications to any authority pending on the transfer date by or against the transferor, in so far as they relate to any property, right or liability transferred to the transferee by virtue of this Act, or to any agreement or enactment to any such property, right or liability, shall be continued by or against the transferee to the exclusion of the transferor.

11 If, in the case of any transfer to which this Schedule applies the effect of any agreement, and in particular any agreement under the Railway Road Transport Acts of 1928 mentioned in paragraph 1 of Part II of Schedule 2 to the Act of 1962, which was executed before the passing of this Act and to which the transferee is by virtue of this Act a party depends on whether the transferee has power to carry on any activity, it shall be assumed for the purposes of the agreement that any activity which requires the consent of the Minister under the Act of 1962 or this Act has been authorised by such a consent.

12 (1) References in paragraphs 7 to 11 of this Schedule to agreements to which the transferor was a party and to statutory provisions include in particular references to agreements to which the transferor became a party by virtue of the Act of 1962 and statutory provisions which applied to the transferor by virtue of that Act.

(2) The provisions of the said paragraphs 7 to 11 shall have effect for the interpretation of agreements, statutory provisions and other instruments subject to the context, and shall not apply where the context otherwise requires.