Q My friend and I have just purchased a 1955 AEC
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Reliance omnibus for preservation; unladen weight is 8.5 tons. We are all under 21 years of age and have been told that even if we license the bus as "private," we will not be legally permitted to drive it until we are 21. Could you confirm this?
And what effect, if any, will the proposed new EEC regulations have on the different weights a person is permitted to drive? A Certainly a driver who has not yet attained the age of 21 years cannot drive a heavy motor car (that is a vehicle which exceeds 3 tons unladen) under the present provisions of Section 4 (i) of the Road Traffic Act 1972. Thus, neither you nor your friends will be able to drive the vehicle you describe till you are 21 years of age however you license it.
Neither will any of you be able to drive it under the EEC Regulations which it is proposed to adopt in the UK from January 1, 1976.
Briefly, these regulations, which are based on laden weight in contrast to the present British Regulations, provide for drivers of vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes to be at least 17 years old, of vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes laden to be 18 and for vehicles above that gross weight for drivers to be at least 21.
As your vehicle is 8.5 tons unladen (about 8.7 tonnes) it will obviously fall in the last of the above classes and the driver will need to be 21.