The New Registration and Licensing Regulations.
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HE Minister of Transport has made .1 new regulations, entitled the Read Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1924, dated December 23rd, 1924, to supersede the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1921, and the Road Vehicles (Trade Licences) Regulations, 1922. The new regulations, which came into force on January let, have been introduced with the object of modifying the existing rules to the benefit and convenience of motorists and owners of mechanical road vehicles.
Under the old regulations, a newly acquired vehicle could only be registered and licensed with the authority in whose area it would ordinarily be kept, but under the new regulations, a person acquiring an unlicensed vehicle can register the vehicle and obtain a licence from the authority in whose area the vehicle is purchased. As an exexample, a resident in Surrey can purchase a vehicle in Coventry, register the car, and obtain a licence from the Coventry County Borough Council, and drive the vehicle home. The registraflan will automatically be transferred subsequently by the Coventry County Borough Connell to the Surrey County Council.
Another important alteration in the na0
regulations is in the method of effecting a transfer of registration when a vehicle, changes hands. The registration book will, in future, be handed over with the vehicle. The new owner will fill in his name and address in the book, and send it to the Council with whom the vehicle was last registered to effect
the transfer of registration. The old owner must also notify his Council that the vehicle has passed out of his pos session. New registration books will be issued so soon as possible, and the new system is =fully set out in the instructions contained therein.
The Hackney Carriage Mark.
Under the old regulations the identification marks and the special hackney carriage mark had to be exhibited on separate plates, but under the new regulations these marks may be painted direct upon the vehicle so long as they are painted upon a flat, unbroken, ver tical surface. It will, therefore, be illegal to paint the numbers upon a corrugated petrol tank or radiator.
The special hackney..carriage mark is not required in those cases where the hackney carriage rate of duty is not less than the horse-power rate which would be payable if the vehicle were a private vehicle.
An important amendment is made in regard to number plates. The use of number plates with letters or figures c-apable of being detached is prohibited. The use of cast or pressed aluminium plates with raised letters and figures is now expressly allowed.
The new regulations also set out the simple procedure by which, under the Finance Act, 1924, a motor owner can surrender his licence during its currency, and obtain a refund of a part'of the duty paid. As regards the new regulations governing the use of trade licences the only alteration is that, in connection with the use of a Limited Trade licence, the driver and steersman of a steam wagon count as one man only. For instance, a vehicle under a Limited Trade licence can carry nobody in addition to the driver on a Sunday, but in the case of a vehicle, such as a steam wagon, being delivered on a Sunday, the driver and steersman will be regarded, for the purposes of the regulations, as one driver only.
In addition to the amendments set Out above there are several minor amendments. Copies of the new regulation s are to be purchased from H.M. Stationery Office, or through any bookseller.