A tale of two areas
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
12 We have an Operator's Licence for 41 vehicles in one Traffic Area and wish to base 10 of those vehicles in another traffic area immediately while we apply for a licence in that area.
I have been told we can do that for up to three months without obtaining a licence in the other traffic area.
If we were not granted a licence in the other traffic area could we replace the first 10 vehicles with a different 10 vehicles and carry on under the three-month rule?
Vehicles authorised on an Operator's Licence granted by the Licensing Authority of one traffic area can be operated from a base in another traffic area for up to three months and that base does not have to be authorised.
The three-month rule can be used for different vehicles and/or different bases in the other traffic area for the duration of your licence. The law providing for the three-month use of a base in another traffic area is Section 61(2) of the Transport Act 1968. It states: "An Operator's Licence shall not authorise the use of any vehicle unless the place which is for the time being its operating centre (a) is in the area of the Licensing Authority by whom the licence was granted; or (b) is outside that area and has not been the operating centre of that vehicle for a period of more than three months."
In relation to (b), two or more periods which are not separated from each other by an interval of at least three months are totalled. Intervals in such periods are not said to be included.
The only prohibition in the Transport Act on the use of an operating centre not specified in a licence is contained in Section 69B(1) which says: "A person may not use a place in the area of any Licensing Authority as an operating centre for authorised vehicles under any operator's licence granted to him by that authority unless it is specified in that licence".
The area involved is that of the Licensing Authority who granted the licence. This means you cannot use a place in your own traffic area for your authorised vehicles unless it is specified in the licence.
Regarding the continued use of Section 61(2), once a vehicle had spent three months in the other traffic area it could be replaced by another vehicle and so on indefinitely.