Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Road Service Licensing (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and shall come into operation on 20th February 2003.

Amendment of the Road Service Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989

2.  In regulation 10 (exemptions from Part II of the Act) of the Road Service Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(3)–

(a)for the words “Part II of the Act shall not apply to”, there shall be substituted–

• “Except where a person must obtain a road service licence for the use of a vehicle on a road in order to comply with Part II of the Act, Part II of the Act shall not apply to”;

(b)in paragraphs (b) and (e), for “six persons” there shall be substituted “eight persons”; and

(c)after paragraph (e), there shall be added–

“(f)the use of a vehicle which–

(i)has a seating capacity for not more than eight persons in addition to the driver, and

(ii)is licensed under Article 61 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(4) to carry passengers for hire (but not to stand or ply for hire).”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Road Service Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 (S.R. 1989 No. 440) so as to exempt a vehicle licensed for private hire (that is to carry passengers for hire but not to stand or ply for hire) from the requirement to operate under a road service licence granted under Part II of the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967. Private hire vehicles which operate a taxi bus service under a road service licence are not included in the exemption.

The Regulations also amend the existing exemptions relating to the use of a hackney carriage and the use of a vehicle pursuant to an arrangement with an Education and Library Board so as to permit the use of vehicles with seating capacity for not more than eight persons (instead of six persons) in addition to the driver.