FROM THE POSTBAG A Welsh reader inquires as to the
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legal position when goods are carried on a passenger vehicle. He operates a 13-seater passenger vehicle and asks for confirmation as to whether or not he requires a C licence when conveying goods in it.
IT IS a statutory obligation on the operator of a passenger vehicle to obtain a p.s.v. licence before using it as a stage, express or contract carriage. Correspondingly, a carrier's licence (whether A, B or C) has to be obtained before a goods vehicle can be used for the carriage of goods.
In this context there is a third type of vehicle, namely the dual-purpose vehicle, which—as its name implies—can be used for the carriage of either passenger or goods, or indeed both.
However, as the reader confirms that no modifications have been made to this 13-seater passenger vehicle, it is assumed that it comes within the legal definition of a passenger vehicle. If this assumption is correct then it follows that it is not a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage of goods, and consequently a carrier's licence is not required, even though goods may actually be carried in it. This contention is supported by the decision of the Transport Tribunal last year in the case of Roy Bowles Transport Ltd.