Transfer of functionsE+W+S

1 Transfer to Minister of local authorities’ functions relating to vehicle and driving licences etc.E+W+S

(1)The functions conferred on local authorities by the M1Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962 and Part II of the M2Road Traffic Act 1960 (which provide for the levying of excise duty on vehicles, the licensing and registration of vehicles and the licensing of drivers) shall be transferred to the Minister of Transport by virtue of this section on the transfer date.

(2)In this Act—

• “the transfer date” means such date as the Minister may by order appoint for the purposes of the foregoing subsection; and

• “relevant functions” means functions which will be or were transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section on the transfer date.

2 Provisions supplementary to s. 1.E+W+S

(1)The Minister may by order make such provision as he considers appropriate for the purposes of section 1 of this Act—

(a)with respect to the transfer and management and the custody of property which is held by local authorities for the purposes of any relevant functions and the transfer of rights acquired and liabilities incurred by local authorities in connection with any relevant functions;

(b)with respect to the payment by the Minister of compensation in respect of any transfer of property or rights in pursuance of paragraph (a) above and in respect of liabilities of local authorities which are not transferred in pursuance of that paragraph; and

(c)for securing that anything done by or in relation to a local authority before the transfer date in connection with any relevant functions is deemed on and after that date to have been done by or in relation to the Minister and, without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, that anything begun before that date by a local authority in the exercise of any relevant functions may be carried on and completed on and after that date by the Minister;

and an order under this subsection may be made to take effect before the transfer date in so far as the Minister considers that it should so take effect for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by him of any relevant functions.

(2)The Minister shall not make an order under the foregoing subsection with respect to the transfer of premises appearing to him to form part of premises held by a local authority for the purposes of relevant and other functions unless he has given notice to the authority of his proposal to make the order and has specified in the notice the time within which the authority may request that the order shall be in accordance with the following provisions of this subsection; and where the authority does so request and the Minister decides to make the order, then—

(a)the order shall secure that the transfer is for such period only as the Minister may determine, being a period ending not later than the end of the period of seven years beginning with the transfer date; and

(b)without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, the other terms of the transfer shall be such as may be specified in the order.

(3)The Minister shall make regulations providing for the payment by him, subject to such exceptions or conditions as may be prescribed, of compensation to or in respect of persons who are or were, or but for any national service of theirs would be or would have been, the holders of any such place, situation or employment as may be prescribed and who suffer or have suffered loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments which is attributable to the provisions of section 1 of this Act; and any such regulations may include provision for the determination of questions arising under the regulations.

• In this subsection “national service” means any such service in any of Her Majesty’s forces or other employment (whether or not in the service of Her Majesty) as may be prescribed.

(4)If a person employed by a local authority for the purposes of any relevant functions ceases to be employed by that authority in consequence of the provisions of section 1 of this Act and as soon as practicable after so ceasing enters [F1employment either with that authority or with another authority, that employment and his first mentioned employment] shall be deemed to be one continuous employment for the purposes of the M3National Insurance (Modification of Local Government Superannuation Schemes) Regulations 1961 and the M4National Insurance (Modification of Local Government Superannuation Schemes) (Scotland) Regulations 1961 and any certificate specifying non-participating employments in pursuance of the M5National Insurance Act 1965; . . . F2.

Any question arising under this subsection . . . F2 as to whether a person was employed by a local authority for the purposes of any relevant functions or entered another employment as soon as practicable after ceasing to be employed by a local authority or as to whether an employment ceased . . . F2 in consequence of the provisions of the said section 1 shall be determined by the Minister.

(5)Without prejudice to the powers of local authorities apart from this subsection, any local authority [F3or district council] shall have power to enter into an agreement with the Minister providing for the exercise of any relevant functions on and after the transfer date by the authority [F3or district council] on behalf of the Minister on such terms as may be provided by the agreement; and it is hereby declared that, in relation to any period before the transfer date, a local authority have and always had power to make arrangements with the Postmaster General for him to issue licences and collect duty under the Act of 1962 on their behalf, and subsection (1) of this section shall be construed accordingly.

(6)The functions mentioned in section 1(1) of this Act include the functions relating to the licensing of drivers which are conferred on the Council of the Isles of Scilly by virtue of the M6Isles of Scilly Order 1937, and in relation to the functions so conferred the said Council shall be deemed to be a local authority for the purposes of this section; and it is hereby declared that after the transfer date the Minister’s functions under the Act of 1962 extend to the Isles of Scilly, and references to local authorities and relevant functions in subsection (5) of this section shall include respectively references to the said Council and the Minister’s said functions in relation to the Isles.

(7)Nothing in this Act shall relieve a local authority from the obligation to pay into the Consolidated Fund any fees for licences received by the authority before the transfer date under Part II of the Act of 1960 and any sums received by the authority before that date by way of duty or penalties under the Act of 1962.

(8)The enactments mentioned in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in that Part (which are consequential upon the provisions of section 1 of this Act).

3 Interim provisions with respect to functions of local authorities.E+W+S

(1)The Minister may, at any time before the transfer date, by order provide that any relevant functions shall, as respects any area specified in the order, be exercisable by a local authority so specified instead of by the authority by whom they would be exercisable apart from the order.

(2)Where at any time before the transfer date a local authority is to cease to be a local authority and it appears to the Minister that, having regard to the provisions of section 1 of this Act, it is expedient to prevent that event from affecting the exercise of any of the relevant functions, he may by order direct that the relevant functions shall, except so far as the order otherwise provides, be exercised after that event as if it had not occurred.

(3)An order under the foregoing provisions of this section may contain such provisions, if any, as the Minister considers appropriate with respect to the transfer of persons employed by a local authority and shall contain provisions for safeguarding the interests of such persons; and section 2(3) of this Act shall have effect for the purposes of this section as if for the reference to section 1 of this Act there were substituted a reference to this section.

(4)If an authority exercising functions by virtue of an order under subsection (2) of this section is not a local authority, it shall be deemed to be a local authority for the purposes of those functions and references to a local authority in any enactment (including this Act) shall be construed accordingly; and the reference in section 1(1) of this Act to functions conferred by the enactments there mentioned shall be construed as including a reference to functions conferred by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section.

Vehicle licencesE+W+S

4—10.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4E+W+S

Continuous liability for vehicle excise dutyE+W+S

11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5E+W+S

12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6E+W+S

Drivers and driving licencesE+W+S

13—15.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7E+W+S

16 Other amendments of enactments relating to drivers etc.E+W+S

(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

(2)The Act of 1960 shall have effect subject to the further amendments specified in Schedule 2 to this Act.

(3)—(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

(6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

MiscellaneousE+W+S

17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10E+W+S

18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11E+W+S

19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12E+W+S

20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13E+W+S

21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14E+W+S

22, 23.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15E+W+S

Legal proceedings etc.E+W+S

24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F16E+W+S

25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F17E+W+S

26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F18E+W+S

[F1927 Admissibility of records as evidence.E+W+S

(1)A statement contained in a document purporting to be—

(a)a part of the records maintained by the Minister or a local authority in connection with the relevant functions or any other functions exercisable by the Minister by virtue of this Act or a part of any other records maintained by the Minister with respect to vehicles; or

(b)a copy of a document forming part of those records; or

(c)a note of any information contained in those records,

and to be authenticated by a person authorised in that behalf by the Minister or, in the case of records maintained by a local authority, by the authority shall be admissible in any proceedings as evidence of any fact stated therein to the same extent as oral evidence of that fact is admissible in those proceedings.

(2)In subsection (1) of this section “document” and “statement” have the same meanings as in subsection (1) of section 10 of the M7Civil Evidence Act 1968, and the reference to a copy of a document shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2) of that section; but nothing in this subsection shall be construed as limiting to civil proceedings the references to proceedings in subsection (1) of this section.

(3)Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall enable evidence to be given with respect to any matter other than a matter of the prescribed description.

(4)In its application to Scotland this section shall have effect as if—

(a)in subsection (1), for the words from “as evidence” onwards there were substituted the words “as sufficient evidence of any fact stated therein, so however that nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to make such a statement evidence in any proceedings except where oral evidence to the like effect would have been admissible in those proceedings”; and

(b)in subsection (2), for the references to subsections (1) and (2) of section 10 of the M8Civil Evidence Act 1968 there were substituted references to subsections (3) and (4) respectively of section 17 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1968.]

28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F20E+W+S

29

(1)(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F21

(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F22

30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23E+W+S

F2431, 32.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

SupplementalE+W+S

33 Interpretation.E+W+S

(1)In this Act the following expressions have the following meanings unless the contrary intention appears, that is to say—

• “the Act of 1960” means theRoad Traffic Act 1960;

• “the Act of 1962” means the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962;

• “local authority” means the council of a county, the Greater London Council, . . . F25and [F26the council of a burgh within the meaning of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 containing a population, according to the cencus for the time being last taken, of or exceeding fifty thousand, and for the purposes ofthis definintion every other burgh shall be deemed to form part of the county in which it is situated][in Scotland, the council of a region, islands area or district];

• “the Minister” means the Minister of Transport;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F27

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F28

• “relevant functions” and “the transfer date” have the meanings assigned to them by section 1(2) of this Act;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29

(2)Unless the contrary intention appears, any reference in this Act to any enactment is a reference to it as amended by or under any other enactment including this Act.

34 Orders and regulations.E+W+S

(1)Any power to make orders or regulations conferred on the Minister by this Act shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and any statutory instrument made by virtue of this Act shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(2)Any order under this Act made by the Minister and any regulations so made under this Act, Part II of the Act of 1960 . . . F30 may—

(a)make different provision for different circumstances;

(b)provide for exemptions from any provisions of the order or regulations; and

(c)contain such incidental and supplemental provisions as the Minister considers expedient for the purposes of the order or regulations,

and nothing in any other provision of this Act or those enactments shall be construed as prejudicing the generality of the foregoing provisions of this subsection.

(3)Any power to make an order or regulations which is exercisable by the Minister by virtue of this Act includes power to provide by the order or regulations that any document for which provision is made by the order or regulations shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be specified by a person specified in the order or regulations.

(4)An order made by the Minister under any provision of this Act (except an order under section 2(1) in so far as the order transfers any property, rights or liabilities, an order appointing the transfer date and an order under section 38(2) of this Act) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order under that provision.

(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F31

35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F32E+W+S

36 Financial provisions.E+W+S

(1)There shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament—

(a)any expenses incurred by the Minister by virtue of this Act; and

(b)any increase attributable to the provisions of this Act in the sums payable under any other enactment out of moneys so provided.

(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F33

37 Repeals.E+W+S

The enactments mentioned in the first and second columns of Schedule 3 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

38 Short title, commencement and extent.E+W+S

(1)This Act may be cited as the Vehicle and Driving Licences Act 1969.

(2)This Act shall come into force on such day as the Minister may by order appoint; and different days may be appointed under this subsection for different provisions of this Act, or for different provisions of this Act so far as they apply to such cases only as may be specified in the order.

(3)This Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.

Section 2(8).

SCHEDULE 1E+W+S Consequential amendments of enactments

Part IE+W+S Amendments consequential on s.1

F34. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

1—3.

F35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

4—8.

The M9Local Government Act 1966E+W+S

9In section 33 of the Local Government Act 1966 the reference to the functions relating to highways shall include a reference to the relevant functions, and any reference in that section to a council or the Minister within the meaning of that section shall respectively be construed, in relation to the relevant functions, as a reference to a local authority or the Minister within the meaning of this Act.

In this paragraph “relevant functions” includes the Minister’s functions under the Act of 1962 in relation to the Isles of Scilly and “local authority” includes the Council of the said Isles.

The M10Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966E+W+S

10In section 35 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966—

(a)in subsection (1), after the words “A local authority” there shall be inserted the words “within the meaning of section 113(1) of the M11Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947”;

(b)after subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsection :—

“(1A)A local authority within the meaning of section 33 of the Vehicle and Driving Licenses Act 1969 may enter into an agreement with the Minister of Transport for the placing at his disposal, for the purpose of any of the relevant functions within the meaning of the said Act of 1969, on such terms as may be provided by the agreement, of the services of persons employed by the local authority and of any premises, equipment and other facilities under their control. ;”

(c)in subsection (2), after the words “Secretary of State” there shall be inserted the words “or the Minister of Transport”;

(d)in subsection (3) the words from “local authority” to “and” in the second place where it occurs shall cease to have effect.

F36. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

11

F37. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

12

Part IIE+W+S Amendments consequential on s. 4

F38. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W+S

13—18.

Section 16 (2).

SCHEDULE 2E+W+S Amendments of provisions of Act of 1960 relating to drivers etc.

1—7.E+W+S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F39

8E+W+SIn section 232(2)(a) (under which the owner of a vehicle may be required to identify the driver of it who it is alleged to have committed an offence to which that section applies) for the words “owner of” there shall be substituted the words “person keeping”.

9, 10.E+W+S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F40

11E+W+SIn section 244 (which specifies the time for beginning summary proceedings for certain offences), for the words from “from” where it first occurs onwards there shall be substituted the words “from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to warrant the proceedings came to his knowledge ; but no such proceedings shall be brought by virtue of this section more than three years after the commission of the offence.

For the purposes of this section a certificate signed by or on the behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which such evidence as aforesaid came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact : and a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.”

12, 13.E+W+S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F41

Section 37.

SCHEDULE 3E+W+S Repeals.