Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 (Repealed 1.9.1994)

4 Exemptions from duty of certain descriptions of vehicle. E+W+S

(1) No duty shall be chargeable under this Act in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles of any of the following descriptions, that is to say—

[F1 (aa) electrically propelled vehicles;]

(a) fire engines;

(b) vehicles kept by a local authority while they are used or kept on a road for the purposes of their fire brigade service;

(c) ambulances;

[F2 (ca) veterinary ambulances;]

(d) road rollers;

(e) vehicles used on tram lines, . . . F3 ;

(f) vehicles used or kept on a road for no purpose other than the haulage of lifeboats and the conveyance of the necessary gear of the lifeboats which are being hauled;

(g) vehicles (including cycles with an attachment for propelling them by mechanical power) which do not exceed [F4 ten] hundredweight in weight unladen and are adapted, and used or kept on a road, for invalids;

(h) road construction vehicles used or kept on a road solely for the conveyance of built-in road construction machinery (with or without articles or material used for the purposes of that machinery);

(i) vehicles constructed or adapted, and used, solely for the conveyance of machinery for spreading material on roads to deal with frost, ice or snow or for the conveyance of such machinery and articles and material used for the purposes of that machinery;

(j) local authority’s watering vehicles;

(k) tower wagons used solely by a street lighting authority, or by any person acting in pursuance of a contract with such an authority, for the purpose of installing or maintaining materials or apparatus for lighting streets, roads or public places.

[F5 (ka) vehicles (other than mowing machines) neither constructed nor adapted for use nor used for the carriage of a driver or passenger;

(kb) vehicles (other than ambulances) used for the carriage of disabled persons by bodies for the time being recognised for the purposes of this paragraph by the Secretary of State;]

F6 [(l) vehicles which are made available by the Secretary of State to any person, body or local authority in pursuance of [F7 section 23 or sections 26 and 27 of the M1 National Health Service Act 1977] and which are used in accordance with the terms on which they are so made available.]

[F8 (1A) The Secretary of State shall recognise a body for the purposes of subsection (1)(kb) above if, on application made to him in such manner as he may specify, it appears to him that the body is concerned with the care of disabled persons.

(1B) The issue by the Secretary of State of a nil licence in respect of a mechanically propelled vehicle shall be treated, where the document is issued by virtue of paragraph (kb) of subsection (1) above, as recognition by him for the purposes of that paragraph of the body by reference to whose use of the vehicle the document is issued.

(1C) The Secretary of State may withdraw recognition of a body for the purposes of subsection (1)(kb) above if it appears to him that the body is no longer concerned with the care of disabled persons.

(1D) The reference in subsection (1B) above to the issue by the Secretary of State of a nil licence is a reference to the issue by him in accordance with regulations under this Act of a document which—

(a) is in the form of a vehicle licence, and

(b) has the word “NIL” marked in the space provided for indicating the amount of duty payable.]

(2) In this section—

• [F9 “ambulance”means a vehicle which—

(a) is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose than, the carriage of sick, injured or disabled persons to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given; and

(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such persons by virtue of being markedAmbulance on both sides;

• “disabled person”means a person suffering from a physical or mental defect or disability;

• “veterinary ambulance”means a vehicle which—

(a) is used for no other purpose than the carriage of sick or injured animals to or from places where veterinary treatment is given; and

(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such animals by virtue of being marked “Veterinary Ambulance” on both sides;]

• “road construction vehicle” means a vehicle constructed or adapted for use for the conveyance of built-in road construction machinery and not constructed or adapted for the conveyance of any other load except articles and material used for the purposes of that machinery;

• “road construction machinery” means a machine or contrivance suitable for use for the construction or repair of roads and used for no purpose other than the construction or repair of roads at the public expense;

• “built-in road construction machinery”, in relation to a vehicle, means road construction machinery built in as part of the vehicle or permanently attached thereto;

• “local authority’s watering vehicle” means a vehicle used solely within the area of a local authority by that local authority, or by any person acting in pursuance of a contract with that local authority, for the purpose of cleansing or watering roads or cleansing gulleys;

• [F10 “tower wagon”means a goods vehicle—

(a) into which there is built, as part of the vehicle, any expanding or extensible contrivance designed for facilitating the erection, inspection, repair or maintenance of overhead structures or equipment, and

(b) which is neither constructed nor adapted for use nor used for the conveyance of any load other than—

(i) such a contrivance and articles used in connection therewith, and

(ii) articles used in connection with the installation or maintenance, by means of such a contrivance, of materials or apparatus for lighting streets, roads or public places]

“street lighting authority” means any local authority or Minister having power under any enactment to provide or maintain materials or apparatus for lighting streets, roads or public places.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 4(1)(aa) inserted (27.3.1980) by Finance Act 1980 (c. 48), s. 4(4)(7)

F2 S. 4(1)(ca) inserted by Finance Act 1990 (c. 29, SIF 107:2), s. 6(2)(6)

F3 Words repealed (16.4.1975) by Finance (No. 2) Act 1975 (c. 45), Sch. 14 Pt. II

F4 Word substituted by Finance Act 1972 (c. 41), s. 128(3)

F5 S. 4(1)(ka),(kb) inserted by Finance Act 1990 (c. 29, SIF 107:2), s. 6(3)(6)

F6 S. 4(1)(l) added by S.I. 1974/168, art. 3

F7 Words substituted by virtue of National Health Service Act 1977 (c. 49), Sch. 14 para. 2

F8 S. 4(1A)–(1D) inserted by Finance Act 1990 (c. 29, SIF 107:2), s. 6(4)(6)

F9 Definitions inserted by Finance Act 1990 (c. 29, SIF 107:2), s. 6(3)(6)

F10 Definition substituted by Finance Act 1986 (c. 41, SIF 107:2), s. 3(7), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 2

Marginal Citations

M1 1977 c. 49.