Transport Act 1985

74 Disabilities of directors of public transport companies. E+W+S

(1) A director of a public transport company who is paid for acting as such or is an employee of the public transport company or a subsidiary of the public transport company shall be disqualified for being elected or being a member—

(a) of any council who are that company’s controlling authority; or

(b) where that company’s controlling authority are a composite authority, of any of the component councils.

(2) Where a public transport company’s controlling authority are a Passenger Transport Authority for a passenger transport area in England and Wales, a director of that company who is paid for acting as such or is an employee of that company or a subsidiary of that company shall be disqualified for being appointed or being a member of that Passenger Transport Authority.

(3) Subject to the following provisions of this section, if a director of a public transport company is a member of any such council as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) above or of any such Passenger Transport Authority as is mentioned in subsection (2) above he shall not at any meeting of that council or Authority—

(a) take part in the consideration or discussion of any contract or proposed contract with, or any other matter relating to the activities of, the public transport company or a subsidiary of that company; or

(b) vote on any question with respect to any such contract, proposed contract or other matter.

(4) The Secretary of State may grant a written dispensation from subsection (3) above in the case of any individual member.

(5) Any such dispensation—

(a) may extend both to the consideration or discussion of any such contract, proposed contract or other matter and to voting with respect to it, or to either alone;

(b) may relate to contracts, proposed contracts or other matters of all descriptions or of any particular description specified in the dispensation; and

(c) may be withdrawn or varied at any time by a notice in writing given by the Secretary of State to the member in question.

(6) The Secretary of State may confer exemptions from subsection (3) above either generally or in the case of any class or description of members; and—

(a) subsection (5)(a) and (b) above shall apply in relation to any such exemption as they apply in relation to any dispensation that may be granted under subsection (4) above; and

(b) any such exemption may be withdrawn or varied at any time by the Secretary of State.

(7) If any person fails to comply with subsection (3) above he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale, unless he proves that he did not know that a contract or proposed contract with, or any other matter relating to the activities of, the company concerned was the subject of consideration at the meeting in question.

(8) A prosecution for an offence under this section shall not, in England and Wales, be instituted except by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(9) A council who are a public transport company’s controlling authority or one of the component councils of such an authority, and any Passenger Transport Authority for a passenger transport area in England and Wales who are a public transport company’s controlling authority, may by standing orders provide for the exclusion of a member of that council or authority who is a director of that company from a meeting of that council or Authority while any contract or proposed contract with, or any other matter relating to the activities of, the public transport company or a subsidiary of that company is under consideration.

(10) Subsections (3) and (9) above shall apply as respects members of—

(a) a committee of any such council or Passenger Transport Authority as is mentioned in subsection (9) above; or

(b) a joint committee of two or more local authorities one or more of whom is such a council or Passenger Transport Authority;(including in either case a sub-committee), as they apply in respect of members of that council or Authority, but with the substitution of references to meetings of any such committee for references to meetings of that council or Authority.

(11) In subsection (10)(b) above, “local authority”—

(a) as respects England and Wales, has the same meaning as in the 1972 Act, except that it includes also a metropolitan county passenger transport authority; and

(b) as respects Scotland, has the same meaning as in the M1 Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

(12) For the purposes of section 94 of the 1972 Act or section 38 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (disability of members of authorities for voting on account of interest in contracts, etc.) a member of any such council or Passenger Transport Authority as is mentioned in subsection (9) above who is a director of the public transport company in question shall not be treated as having a pecuniary interest in any contract or proposed contract with, or in any other matter relating to the activities of, the public transport company or a subsidiary of that company by reason only of any interest of his in that company or in a subsidiary of that company.

(13) The provisions of this section shall apply in relation to a director of a subsidiary of a public transport company as they apply in relation to a director of such a company.

Marginal Citations

M1 1973 c. 65.