Transport Act 1968

103 Interpretation, supplementary provisions, etc., for Part VI

(1) In this Part of this Act—

• " agriculture " has the meaning assigned by section 109(3) of the [1947 c. 48.] Agriculture Act 1947 or, in relation to Scotland, section 86(3) of the [1948 c. 45.] Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 ;

• " driver ", " employee-driver " and " owner-driver " have the meaning assigned by section 95(3) of this Act;

• " employer ", in relation to an employee-driver, means the employer of that driver in the employment by virtue of which that driver is an employee-driver;

• " licensing authority " has the same meaning as in Part V of this Act;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

• " working day ", in relation to any driver, means—

  (a)

  any period during which he is on duty and which does not fall to be aggregated with any other such period by virtue of paragraph (b) of this definition; and

  (b)

  where a period during which he is on duty is not followed by an interval for rest of not less than eleven hours or (where permitted by virtue of section 96(4)(b) of this Act) of not less than nine and a half hours, the aggregate of that period and each successive such period until there is such an interval as aforesaid, together with any interval or intervals between periods so aggregated ;

• " working week " means, subject to subsection (5) of this section, a week beginning at midnight between Saturday and Sunday;

and any expression not defined above which is also used in the Act of 1960 has the same meaning as in that Act.

(2) For the purposes of this Part of this Act a director of a company shall be deemed to be employed by it.

(3) In this Part of this Act references to a person driving a vehicle are references to his being at the driving controls of the vehicle for the purpose of controlling its movement, whether it is in motion or is stationary with the engine running.

(4) In this Part of this Act references to a driver being on duty are references—

(a) in the case of an employee-driver, to his being on duty (whether for the purpose of driving a vehicle to which this Part of this Act applies or for other purposes) in the employment by virtue of which he is an employee-driver, or in any other employment under the person who is his employer in the first-mentioned employment; and

(b) in the case of an owner-driver, to his driving a vehicle to which this Part of this Act applies for the purposes of a trade or business carried on by him or being otherwise engaged in work for the purposes of that trade or business, being work in connection with such a vehicle or the load carried thereby.

(5) The traffic commissioners or licensing authority for any area may, on the application of an owner-driver or of the employer of an employee-driver, from time to time direct that a week beginning at midnight between two days other than Saturday and Sunday shall be, or be deemed to have been, a working week in relation to that owner-driver or employee-driver; but where by virtue of any such direction a new working week begins before the expiration of a previous working week then, without prejudice to the application of the provisions of this Part of this Act in relation to the new working week, those provisions shall continue to apply in relation to the previous working week until its expiration.

(6) In sections 97(2)(a) and 98(2)(e) of this Act " a small goods vehicle " means a goods vehicle which has a plated weight of the prescribed description not exceeding three and a half tons or (not having a plated weight) has an unladen weight not exceeding thirty hundredweight; but the Minister may by regulations direct that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall have effect, in relation to either or both of those sections—

(a) with the substitution for either of the weights there specified of such other weight as may be specified in the regulations;

(b) with the substitution for either of those weights or for any other weight for the time being specified as aforesaid of a weight expressed in terms of the metric system, being a weight which is equivalent to that for which it is substituted or does not differ from it by more than five per cent. thereof.

(7) Without prejudice to any jurisdiction of any court under any other enactment, proceedings for an offence under this Part of this Act may be commenced in any court having jurisdiction in the place where the person charged with the offence is for the time being.

(8) The enactments specified in Schedule 11 to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments there specified.

(9) Any order made under section 166(2) of this Act appointing a day for the purposes of any of the provisions of this Part of this Act may contain such transitional provision as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient as respects the application of any particular provision of this Part of this Act to a working week or working day falling partly before and partly after the date on which that provision comes into operation.