1 January is 0-Day
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We hold an Operator's Licence which should have expired in 1998 but, due to a maintenance problem in 1994, the Licensing Authority said it would end on 31 March 1996 instead.
We have heard rumours that at the end of the year all licences will last indefinitely. Is that date now fixed and does it mean our licence will not now end next March?
Are there any important changes under the new law?
A 1 January 1996 has now
been fixed as the date on which the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 will come into operation. It is a consolidation of the licensing provisions of the Transport Act 1968, as amended over the years, and the major amendments contained in the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994.
It appears your licence was prematurely terminated by the LA and the order bringing the act into force makes special provision for such cases.
The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Order 1995 states that generally a licence which is in force immediately before 1 January 1996 will continue indefinitely.
However, it also states that where an LA has given a premature termination direction before 1 January 1996 and the new expiry date is after that date, the licence will terminate on the date he has specified. You will have to apply to renew your licence with effect from 1 April 1996.
Also, where a licence expires before 1 January 1996 and the operator is working under continuity rights on that date while his renewal application is determined, the licence will expire when the application or any appeal arising from it has been decided. In other words, operating under continuity rights on 31 December 1995 does not give the operator a right to an indefinite licence on 1 January 1996.
though a licence runs indefinitely, the TC will be able to "review" the operating centre every five years and take into account any complaints he received from statutory objectors or local residents in that period. There are many other technical changes.