Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000

Cited authorities 14

Cited in

Amendments 14

Jurisdiction	UK Non-devolved
Citation	SI 2000/1970
Year	2000

UNITED KINGDOM STATUTORY INSTRUMENT

2000 No. 1970

DISABLED PERSONS

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000

Made 20th July 2000

Laid before Parliament 24th July 2000

Coming into force 30th August 2000

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 40(1), (2) and (6), 41(2), 42(3), (4) and (5), 44(1)(b), 2(b) and (4), 45(1) and 67 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995¹(“the Act”) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf and after consultation with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and such other representative organisations as he thought fit in accordance with section 40(7) of the Act and with such representative organisations as he thought fit in accordance with section 45(4) of the Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART I

Preliminary

Citation, commencement and extent

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 30th August 2000.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1970 Directive” means Council Directive 70/156/EECof 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers², as last amended by Commission Directive 98/14/ECof 6 February 1998³;

“the 1981 Regulations” means the Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment, Use and Certification) Regulations 1981⁴;

“accessibility certificate” means a certificate issued by a vehicle examiner in accordance with Part III;

“bus” means a public service vehicle designed and constructed for the carriage of both seated and standing passengers which is of category M2 or M3 (as defined in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive) and has a capacity exceeding 22 passengers, in addition to the driver;

“coach” means a public service vehicle designed and constructed for the carriage of seated passengers only which is of category M2 or M3 (as defined in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive) and has a capacity exceeding 22 passengers, in addition to the driver;

“conformity certificate” means a certificate issued by a vehicle examiner in accordance with Part VI;

“declaration of conformity” means a declaration made by an authorised person in accordance with Part V;

“double-deck”, in relation to a bus or coach, means that the spaces provided for the passengers are arranged (at least in one part) on two superimposed levels and that space for standing passengers is not provided on the upper deck;

“EEA State” means a State which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed in Brussels on 17th March 1993⁵;

“local service” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Transport Act 1985⁶;

“motor vehicle” has the same meaning as in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive;

“regulated public service vehicle” means any public service vehicle to which these Regulations apply in accordance with regulation 3(1);

“scheduled service” means a service, using one or more public service vehicles, for the carriage of passengers at separate fares—

(a) along specified routes,

(b) at specified times, and

but does not include a tour service;

“seated passengers” means the number of seated passengers that a vehicle may carry in accordance with the Public Service Vehicles (Carrying Capacity) Regulations 1984⁷;

“standing passengers” means the number of standing passengers that a vehicle may carry in accordance with the Public Service Vehicles (Carrying Capacity) Regulations 1984;

“tour service” means a service where a public service vehicle is used for or in conjunction with the carriage of passengers to a particular location, or particular locations, and back to their point of departure;

“type vehicle approval” means an approval given by the Secretary of State in accordance with Part IV;

“weight” means design weight as defined in regulation 3(2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986⁸and the words “weighs” and “weighing” shall be construed accordingly;

And other expressions used in Schedules 1 to 3 have the meanings given to them respectively in paragraph 1 of those Schedules.

(2) For the purpose of these Regulations, the date on which a regulated public service vehicle is “first used” shall be taken to be such date as is the earlier of the relevant dates mentioned below applicable to that vehicle, that is to say—

(a)

(a) in the case of a vehicle registered under the Roads Act 1920⁹, the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1949¹⁰, the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962¹¹, the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971¹²or the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994¹³, the relevant date is the date on which it was first so registered; and

(b)

(b) in each of the following cases:

(i) a vehicle which is being or has been used under a trade licence within the meaning of section 11(1) of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (otherwise than for the purposes of demonstration or testing or of being delivered from premises of the manufacturer by whom it was made, or of a distributor of vehicles or dealer in vehicles, to premises of a distributor of vehicles, dealer in vehicles or purchaser thereof or to premises of a person obtaining possession thereof under a hiring agreement or hire purchase agreement);

(ii) a vehicle belonging, or which has belonged, to the Crown which is or was used or appropriated for use for naval, military or air force purposes;

(iii) a vehicle belonging, or which has belonged, to a visiting force or a headquarters or defence organisation to which (in each case) the Visiting Forces and International Headquarters (Application of Law) Order 1965¹⁴applies;

(iv) a vehicle which has been used on roads outside Great Britain and which has been imported into Great Britain; and

(v) a vehicle which has been used otherwise than on roads after being sold or supplied by retail and before being registered;

the relevant date is the date of manufacture of the vehicle.

In case (v) above, “sold or supplied by retail” means sold or supplied otherwise than to a person acquiring the vehicle solely for the purpose of resale or re-supply for valuable consideration.

PART II

Application of Regulations, Exemptions and Recognition

Application

3.—(1) These Regulations apply to public service vehicles of the types described respectively in paragraphs (2) to (7) (a “regulated public service vehicle”) in the manner and to the extent set out in this Part.

(2) A single-deck bus which weighs more than 7.5 tonnes and is in use on or after 31st December 2000 shall require a certificate referred to in paragraph (8) relating to Schedules 1 and 2, except that a single-deck bus which—

(a)