Vehicle and Driving Licences Act 1969

Miscellaneous

17Regulations with respect to the transfer and identification of vehicles

For section 16 of the Act of 1962 (which enables regulations to be made with respect to the registration etc. of vehicles) there shall be substituted the following section:—

16Regulations with respect to the transfer and identification of vehicles.

Regulations under this Act may—

(a)require a person who becomes or ceases to be the keeper of a mechanically propelled vehicle, or who acts as the auctioneer at the sale of such a vehicle by auction, to furnish the prescribed information to the Minister in the prescribed manner ;

(b)specify the size, shape and character of the registration marks or the signs to be affixed to any such vehicle (including a vehicle used by virtue of a trade licence) and the manner in which the marks or signs are to be displayed and rendered easily distinguishable by day and by night;

(c)make provision with respect to the furnishing of information and production of certificates of insurance or security and test certificates relating to mechanically propelled vehicles in respect of which duty is not chargeable under this Act and with respect to the registration and identification of such vehicles (including vehicles belonging to the Crown);

(d)make provision with respect to the inspection and surrender of any registration document issued in respect of a vehicle and provide that, in a case where the surrender of such a document is required in connection with an application for a licence under this Act, the licence shall not be issued if the document is not surrendered;

(e)make provision with respect to the replacement of any such document and as to the fee payable in prescribed circumstances in respect of any replacement; and

(f)provide for information contained in any records maintained by the Minister with respect to the marking, registration or keeping of vehicles to be made public or to be made available, either without payment or on payment of the prescribed fee, to such persons as may be determined by or under the regulations.

18Copies of test certificates

(1)The power to make regulations conferred by section 65(6) of the Act of 1960 (which relates to vehicle tests) shall include power to make provision as to the issue of copies of test certificates within the meaning of that section and as to the fees to be paid for the issue of copies; and in section 66(6) of that Act (which among other things enables regulations to provide that a licence for a vehicle shall be refused unless an effective test certificate for the vehicle is produced) at the end of paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the words " the furnishing to the Minister of a copy of such a certificate, or ".

(2)Regulations under subsection (9) of section 14 of the [1967 c. 30.] Road Safety Act 1967 (which enables regulations to provide that licences under the Act of 1962 shall not be granted for goods vehicles to which subsection (2) or subsection (3) of that section applies unless evidence is produced that test certificates are in force for the vehicles or that they comply with the relevant type approval requirements) may be made so as to apply to such classes only of those vehicles as may be specified in the regulations.

19Marking of engines and bodies

(1)The Minister may by regulations make such provision as he thinks appropriate with respect to the marking of the engines and bodies of mechanically propelled vehicles.

(2)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, regulations under this section may include provision—

(a)as to the persons by whom and the times at which engines and bodies of vehicles are to be marked;

(b)as to the form of any mark and the manner and position in which it is to be made ;

(c)for requiring particulars of marks made in pursuance of the regulations to be furnished to the Minister ; and

(d)providing that a person who contravenes or fails to comply with any specified provision of the regulations shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

20Issue etc. of vehicle registration marks by motor dealers

(1)The Minister may by regulations make such provision as he considers appropriate with respect to the allocation of registration marks for vehicles to motor dealers who apply for such allocations and appear to the Minister suitable to receive them and with respect to the assigning of the marks to vehicles by motor dealers.

(2)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, regulations under this section may include provision—

(a)as to the mode of application for the allocation of registration marks;

(b)as to the transfer of registration marks allocated to a motor dealer in cases where the dealer dies or becomes incapacitated or bankrupt and in such other cases as may be prescribed ; and

(c)subject to section 21(2) of this Act, as to the cancellation of allocations of registration marks.

(3)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, regulations under this section may also include provision for—

(a)restricting the circumstances in which a motor dealer may assign a registration mark to a vehicle;

(b)securing that registration marks allocated to a dealer are assigned by him in such sequence as the Minister considers appropriate and that no registration mark is assigned to a vehicle to which such a mark has already been assigned;

(c)requiring a motor dealer to furnish the Minister within the prescribed period with the prescribed particulars in respect of each vehicle to which the dealer assigns a registration mark; and

(d)providing that a person who contravenes or fails to comply with any specified provision of the regulations shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(4)A registration mark assigned to a vehicle in pursuance of this section shall be deemed to be assigned to it under section 13 of the Act of 1962.

(5)Where particulars in respect of a vehicle are furnished to the Minister in pursuance of this section before the Minister first issues a vehicle licence for the vehicle, the Minister shall register the vehicle in accordance with the said section 13 on receiving the particulars instead of on the first issue of a licence and shall not be required to assign a registration mark to the vehicle ; and for the purposes of section 4(1) of the [1967 c. 70.] Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 1967 (under which the period after which a test certificate is required for a vehicle used before being registered in accordance with the said section 13 is calculated by reference to the vehicle's date of manufacture) any use of a vehicle before it is so registered and after a mark is assigned to it in pursuance of this section shall be disregarded.

21Review of decisions relating to motor traders etc.

(1)If the Minister—

(a)rejects an application by a motor dealer for an allocation of temporary licences or registration marks in pursuance of this Act; or

(b)requires a motor dealer or any other person to surrender any unissued licences allocated to the dealer in pursuance of this Act or cancels an allocation of registration marks made to a dealer in pursuance of this Act; or

(c)refuses an application for a trade licence made by a motor trader or vehicle tester within the meaning of section 12 of the Act of 1962,

and the dealer, trader, tester or other person in question requests the Minister within the prescribed period to review his decision, it shall be the duty of the Minister to comply with the request and, in doing so, to consider any representations made to him in writing within the period aforesaid by the person who made the request.

(2)Such a requirement or cancellation as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section shall not take effect before the expiration of the period aforesaid and, where during that period a request is made in pursuance of that subsection in respect of the requirement or cancellation, shall not take effect before the Minister gives notice in writing of the result of the review to the person who made the request.

(3)Where in pursuance of subsection (7) of the said section 12 (which relates to appeals to the Minister from refusals of local authorities to issue trade licences) an appeal is pending immediately before the date when the repeal of that subsection by this Act takes effect, the making of the appeal shall be treated as a request in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section in respect of such a refusal as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of that subsection.

22Information as to date of birth and sex

(1)If on convicting a person of an offence specified in Part I or Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1962 c. 59.] Road Traffic Act 1962 (which relates to offences involving endorsements of driving licences and disqualifications) or of an offence treated as so specified by virtue of section 5 of the [1967 c. 30.] Road Safety Act 1967 or of such other offence as may be prescribed, the court orders his driving licence to be endorsed or orders him to be temporarily disqualified and does not know his date of birth, the court shall order him to state that date in writing.

(2)It shall be the duty of a person giving a notification to the clerk of a court in pursuance of section 1(2) of the [1957 c. 29.] Magistrates' Courts Act 1957 (which relates to pleas of guilty in the absence of the accused) in respect of an offence mentioned in subsection (1) of this section to include in the notification a statement of the date of birth and the sex of the accused ; and in a case where the foregoing provisions of this subsection are not complied with the court shall, if on convicting the accused it orders his driving licence to be endorsed or orders him to be temporarily disqualified and does not know his date of birth or sex, order him to furnish that information in writing to the court.

(3)References in this section to temporary disqualification are references to disqualification in pursuance of subsection (8) of section 56 of the [1967 c. 80.] Criminal Justice Act 1967; and nothing in subsection (5) of that section (which provides that where a magistrates' court commits a person to another court under subsection (1) of that section, certain of its powers and duties are transferred to that other court) shall apply to any duty imposed upon a magistrates' court by the foregoing provisions of this section in consequence of an order for temporary disqualification.

(4)A person who knowingly fails to comply with an order under subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(5)In section 225 of the Act of 1960, at the end of subsection (1) (which enables a constable to require the production of a driving licence in certain circumstances) there shall be inserted the words " and shall in prescribed circumstances, on being so required by the constable, state his date of birth "; and in subsection (4) (which penalises a failure to produce a licence lo a constable in pursuance of that section) after the words " to produce a licence " there shall be inserted the words " or state his date of birth ".

(6)Where in accordance with this section a person has stated his date of birth to a court or a constable or in such a notification as aforesaid, the Minister may serve on that person a notice in writing requiring him to furnish the Minister—

(a)with such evidence in that person's possession or obtainable by him as the Minister may specify for the purpose of verifying that date; and

(b)if his name differs from his name at the time of his birth, with a statement in writing specifying his name at that time ;

and a person who knowingly fails to comply with a notice under this subsection shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(7)In the application of this section to Scotland—

(a)for subsection (2) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—

(2)Where, in pursuance of section 26(3) of the [1954 c. 48.] Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act 1954 (pleas in absence of accused), a person gives written intimation of a plea of guilty in respect of an offence mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, he shall include in that written intimation a statement of the accused's date of birth and sex, and in a case where the foregoing provisions of this subsection are not complied with the court, if on convicting the accused it orders his licence to be endorsed and does not know his date of birth or sex, shall order him to furnish that information in writing to the court;

(b)in subsection (6) for the word " notification " there shall be substituted the words " written intimation ".

23Powers to prescribe fees

(1)The amount of the fees payable under the following enactments, that is to say—

(a)section 99(2)(b) of the Act of 1960 (driving tests);

(b)sections 101 and 102 of that Act, as replaced by section 14 of this Act (new driving licences);

(c)section 113(g) of that Act (replacement of lost or defaced driving licences);

(d)section 8(4) of the Act of 1962 (replacement of lost or destroyed vehicle licences);

(e)section 16(1)(b) and (e) or, after the coming into force of section 17 of this Act, section 16(e) and (f) of the Act of 1962 (replacement of documents and furnishing of information); and

(f)section 6 of this Act,

shall be such as may be approved by the Treasury.

(2)Accordingly the following enactments shall have effect subject to the following amendments—

• in section 113(g) of the Act of 1960 the words " not exceeding two shillings and sixpence " shall cease to have effect, and at the end of that section there shall be inserted the following paragraph:—

  • Any fee prescribed under this Part of this Act shall be of an amount approved by the Treasury, and different fees may be prescribed for different circumstances.;

• in section 8(4) of the Act of 1962 the words " (not exceeding five shillings)" shall cease to have effect;

• in section 16(1) of the Act of 1962 the words " (which shall not exceed five shillings)" in paragraph (b) and " (not exceeding five shillings)" in paragraph (e) shall cease to have effect,

• at the end of section 23(2) of the Act of 1962 there shall be inserted the words " but any fee prescribed under this Act shall be of an amount approved by the Treasury ".