I) My small village has no convenient bus service for
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shoppers to use a new supermarket which has recently opened in an adjacent town. I have been asked to run a minibus operating two round trips a day : one in the morning and the other after lunch. Could you tell me what licences I need and how to obtain them?
A You do not say what will be the seating capacity of the vehicle you intend to obtain. However, Section 129 of the Road Traffic Act 1960 lays down that, if it is adapted to carry eight or more passengers a certificate of fitness will be required before a public service vehicle licence will be issued. A vehicle built to psv standards by the manufacturer will present no difficulty.
A public service vehicle licence is necessary before a vehicle can be operated for hire and reward in accordance with the provisions of Section 127 of the 1960 Act. This is obtainable from the Traffic Commissioners for the area in which you reside. Issue of a psv licence will allow the operation of a vehicle as a contract carriage without any further licence (though the driver will need a psv driving licence).
In general, a contract carriage is a psv not carrying passengers at separate fares. However, passengers can be carried at separate fares provided certain requirements are met. These are : the arrangements for bringing together all the passengers have not been made by the psv licence-holder, anyone acting on his behalf or anyone who receives payment for the arrangement; the journey has not been publicly advertised; all the passengers must be carried to the particular destination or the vicinity of it for the greater part of the journey; no difference in the fare shall be evident on the basis of time or distance; anybody travels frequently as a matter of routine must not be included.
If the vehicle is operated as an express carriage (a psv carrying passengers at separate fares none of which is less than 11p) or a stage carriage (a psv carrying passengers at separate fares which is not an express carriage) then a road service licence is required.
In granting a road service licence, the Traffic Commissioners have to have regard for the suitability of the route; if the route is already adequately served; if the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interrest; and the needs of the area as a whole. They must also pay attention to the representations made by other operators in the area.
(I I know that a police con''4C stable can ask to see my driving licence, but can a DoE vehicle or traffic examiner also demand to inspect it? A Yes, a DoE examiner can ask to see both your ordinary driving licence and your heavy goods vehicle driving licence in the same way as a police constable. The production of a driving licence issued under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1972—in other words an ordinary driving licence—is dealt with in Part VII of the Act.
Section 161 gives a police constable power to demand to see a driver's licence to ascertain the name and address of the holder and the date and the authority of issue. He may also request the holder's date of birth in certain circumstances. Section 163 confers the same powers on an examiner appointed under Section 56. Section 16 (4) allows the holder to produce a driving licence at a police station within five days of the request.
The Heavy Goods Vehicles (Drivers' Licences) Regulations 1969 govern the production of a heavy goods vehicle driving licence. Regulation 14 (i) authorises an examiner and a police constable to demand a heavy goods vehicle driving licence to confirm facts already stated. The driver is also required to sign the examiner's record sheet to verify the facts written on it.
A demand from a police constable must be satisfied in .five days at a police station while a similar demand by an examiner must be fulfilled in 10 days at the office of the examiner.