New driving licence regs put back
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THE new driving licence regulations, altered to come into line with Common Market requirements, will nob—as was first expected — be enforced from January 1.
Government spokesman Lord Melchett made this clear when the House of Lords last week gave an unopposed second reading to the Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours of Work) Bill.
He said that though there was provision in the Bill for these changes to come into force on January 1 this reflected the hope at the time the Bill was prepared.
It was a hope that was now unlikely to be realised, and the Government would propose a suitable amendment at a later stage to reflect a later Royal Assent.
Lord Melchett said that a certain amount of misunderstanding had arisen over the provisions in the EEC Regulation dealing with drivers of passenger vehicles.
This required anyone driving a passenger vehicle with more than nine seats to hold a certificate of professional competence to drive passenger vehicles.
"May I state quite clearly that it is our intention to regard an ordinary driving licence as satisfying this requirement."
Turning to the Regulationmaking powers in the Bill, Lord Melchett said these were simply to ensure that if and when the European provisions about drivers' hours came into force in this country, industry would be operating under a sensible and uniform system.