Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

Statutory Instruments

1999 No. 72

ROAD TRAFFIC

Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

Made

14th January 1999

Laid before Parliament

19th January 1999

Coming into force

for the purposes of regulation 2 (partially) and regulation 4

1st April 1999

for the purposes of regulation 2 (partially) and regulation 3

6th April 1999

for all other purposes

10th February 1999

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 89(4)(b), 94(5)(b), 97(1), 105(1), (2) and (3) and 108(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988(1), after consulting with representative organisations in accordance with section 195(2) of that Act and with the approval of the Treasury(2), hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force—

(a) for the purposes of regulation 4 and regulation 2 to the extent that it refers to that regulation, on 1st April 1999;

(b) for the purposes of regulation 3 and regulation 2 to the extent that it refers to that regulation, on 6th April 1999;

(c) for all other purposes, on 10th February 1999.

Amendment of Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996

2.  The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996(3) (“the Principal Regulations”) are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 6 below.

3.  In regulation 31(1)(b) for “£15” there shall be substituted “£15.50”.

4.  For the table in Part 1 of Schedule 3 (Table of licence fees) there shall be substituted the table in Schedule 1 below.

5.  Subject to regulation 7 below, for the table in Schedule 5 (Fees for tests) there shall be substituted the table in Schedule 2 below.

6.  After regulation 69 there shall be inserted—

“Examination by an officer of the Secretary of State

69A.— (1) There are prescribed for the purposes of section 94(5)(b)(ii) of the Traffic Act(4) (examination of a licence applicant or holder by an officer of the Secretary of State) the following disabilities—

(a) impairment of visual acuity or of the central or peripheral visual field;

(b) a disability consisting of any one or more of the following—

(i) the absence of one or more limbs,

(ii) the deformity of one or more limbs,

(iii) the loss of use of one or more limbs whether or not progressive in nature, and

(iv) impairment of co-ordination of movement of the limbs or of co-ordination between a limb and the eye;

(c) impairment of cognitive functions or behaviour.

(2) In paragraph (1)(b), a reference to a limb includes a reference to part of a limb, and the reference to loss of use in relation to a limb includes a reference to impairment of limb movement, power or sensation.”.

Transitional provision

7.  Regulation 5 shall not apply in the case of an application for an appointment for a practical or unitary test (as defined in the Principal Regulations) to be conducted on or before 3rd May 1999, in respect of which the provisions of the table in Schedule 5 to the Principal Regulations in force immediately before the making of these Regulations shall apply.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Larry Whitty

Parliamentary Under Secretary,Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

11th January 1999

We approve the making of these Regulations

Bob Ainsworth

Jim Dowd

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

14th January 1999

Regulation 4

SCHEDULE 1 PROVISIONS INSERTED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR PART 1 OF SCHEDULE 3

“TABLE OF FEES

Description of Licence and circumstances of application	Fee payable
1.   A first licence.	£23.50
2.   A provisional licence granted following the revocation of a licence under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995(5).	£23.50
3.   A full licence granted in exchange for a full Northern Ireland licence or to a person who has held a full Northern Ireland licence which was granted on or after 1st January 1976.	£13.50
4.   A provisional licence authorising the driving of vehicles of a class included in category A except— (a) a first licence, (b) a licence granted following the revocation of a licence under section 93(1) or (2) of the Traffic Act or the delivery of a Community licence to the Secretary of State under section 99C(1), (2) or (3) of the Traffic Act(6), or (c) a licence falling within paragraph 8, 12 or 13.	£13.50
5.   A licence which is the applicant’s first full Group 1 licence, first full licence authorising the driving of vehicles in category C or first full licence authorising the driving of vehicles in category D.	£8.50
6.   A licence granted in exchange for a licence still in force or in place of a licence which has been revoked or a Community licence which is required to be delivered to the Secretary of State, except— (a) a licence granted pursuant to section 118(4) of the Traffic Act, (b) a licence granted following the revocation of a licence under section 93(1) of the Traffic Act or the delivery of a Community licence to the Secretary of State under section 99C(1) or (3) of the Traffic Act, (c) a licence which the licensing authority is required to grant free of charge under section 93(2), 99(7) or 99C(2) of the Traffic Act, (d) a short Group 2 licence, or (e) a licence falling within any other paragraph of this Part.	£13.50
7.   A Group 1 licence granted upon the expiry of a previous Group 1 licence, except— (a) a licence falling within paragraph 4, or (b) a licence granted under section 99(1)(b) of the Traffic Act.	£8.50
8.   A licence granted by way of replacement of a lost or defaced licence.	£13.50
9.   A provisional licence authorising the driving of vehicles of a class included in category C.	£23.50
10.   A provisional licence authorising the driving of vehicles of a class included in category D.	£23.50
11.   A full Group 2 licence granted upon the expiry of a previous full Group 2 licence, other than a licence granted under section 99(1)(b) or (1A) (c) of the Traffic Act(7)	£28.50
12.   A licence, other than a short Group 2 licence, granted upon the expiry of a period of disqualification ordered by a court under section 34 or 35 of the Offenders Act(8)— (a) in the circumstances prescribed under section 94(4) of the Traffic Act(9) irrespective of the date when the court order was made;	£33.50
(b) otherwise than in those circumstances.	£24.50
13.   A provisional licence, other than a first licence, granted following disqualification ordered by a court under section 36 of the Offenders Act, whether or not the court also made an order under section 34 or 35 of that Act— (a) in the circumstances prescribed under section 94(4) of the Traffic Act irrespective of the date when the court order was made;	£33.50
(b) otherwise than in those circumstances.	£24.50
14.   A provisional Group 2 licence granted first to a person who has been ordered to take a driving test under section 117 or 117A of the Traffic Act(10).	£24.50”

Regulation 5

SCHEDULE 2 PROVISIONS INSERTED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR SCHEDULE 5

“(1) Category or sub-category of vehicle	(2) Test, other than an extended driving test, commencing:		(3) Extended driving test commencing
	(a) During normal hours	(b) Out of hours	(a) During normal hours	(b) Out of hours
1.   A and P	£45.00	£55.00	£90.00	£110.00
2.   B1, B, F, G, H, and K	£36.75	£46.00	£73.50	£92.00
3.   B1 (invalid carriages)	No fee	No fee	No fee	No fee
4.   B+E, C1, C1+E, D1, D1+E, C, C+E, D and D+E	£73.50	£92.00	—	—”

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996 as follows.

1.  Regulation 4 and Schedule 1 amend the fees payable upon an application for a driving licence made on or after 1st April 1999.

• Driving licence fees were last increased on 1st July 1998. Save for the exception mentioned below, the following table shows that where an existing fee is that specified in column 1 the new fee will be that shown in column 2. The percentage increase is shown in column 3:

  1. Existing fee	2. New fee	3. Percentage increase
  £6	£8.50	41.7%
  £11	£13.50	22.7%
  £17	£24.50	30.6%
  £21	£23.50	11.9%
  £26	£33.50	28.8%

• The exception is the fee payable on the renewal of a Group 2 licence, which is altered from £26 to £28.50, an increase of 9.6%.

2.  Regulation 5 and Schedule 2 amend the fees payable upon an application for a practical driving test where the test is to be conducted on or after 4th May 1999.

Practical driving test fees were last increased for tests booked on or after 1st April 1998.

The following tables show the new fees with the percentage change in brackets:

ORDINARY TESTS

Type of vehicle	Test commenced during normal hours	Tests commenced during evenings and weekends
Motor cycles and mopeds	£45 (15.4%)	£55 (5.8%)
Motor cars, tractors and minor categories	£36.75 (12.2%)	£46 (7%)
Cars with trailers, goods vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles	£73.50 (no change)	£92 (no change)

EXTENDED TESTS

Type of vehicle	Test commenced during normal hours	Tests commenced during evenings and weekends
Motor cars	£73.50 (12.2%)	£92 (7%)
Motor cycles	£90 (15.4%)	£110 (5.8%)

3.  Regulation 3 increases the theory test fee, which has remained unchanged since July 1996, from £15 to £15.50 for tests booked on or after 6th April 1999.

4.  Regulation 6 enables the Secretary of State to serve notice on a person whom he believes to be suffering from specified types of relevant disability (namely certain visual defects and limb disabilities and the impairment of cognitive function) requiring that person to be examined by one of his own officers rather than a registered medical practitioner.

(1)

1988 c. 52. The relevant amendments to section 97(1) were by the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 (c. 22) and to section 105(2)(e) by the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licences) Regulations 1990 (S.I. 1990/144); in section 108(1) see the definition of “prescribed” and “regulations”.

(2)

See section 105(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

(3)

S.I. 1996/2824. The relevant amendments are by S.I. 1997/669, 1997/2070, 1998/528 and 1998/1229.

(4)

I.e. the Road Traffic Act 1988.

(5)

1995 c. 13.

(6)

Section 99C was inserted by the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1974).

(7)

Subsection (1A) was inserted by section 2(2) of the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 (c. 22).

(8)

I.e. the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (c. 53). Section 36 was substituted by section 32 of the Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40).

(9)

The relevant amendment is by section 5(1) of the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989.

(10)

Section 117 was substituted by section 2(1) of and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989. Section 117A was inserted by the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1996.