Road and Rail Traffic Act 1933
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1933 c. 53 |
Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933
(23 & 24 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 53.
An Act to make provision for regulating the carriage of goods on roads by motor vehicles and for controlling the use of vehicles on certain roads; to amend certain provisions of the Road Traffic Act, 1930; to amend the law relating to railways and to make provision for constituting a council to advise on questions in connection with the means of, and facilities for, transport; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[17th November 1933]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
Road Traffic.
Goods Vehicles.
1 Licensing of good vehicles.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, no person shall use a goods vehicle on a road for the carriage of goods—
(a ) for hire or reward; or
(b ) for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by him,
except under a licence.
(2) In this Part of this Act the expression ‘goods vehicle’ means a motor vehicle constructed or adapted for use for the carriage of goods, or a trailer so constructed or adapted, and the expression ‘licence’ means a licence granted under this Part of this Act.
(3) When a goods vehicle is being used on a road for the carriage of goods, the driver of the vehicle, if it belongs to him or is in his possession under an agreement for hire, hire purchase or loan, and in any other case the person whose agent or servant the driver is, shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be deemed to be the person by whom the vehicle is being used.
(4) Where at any time goods are carried in a goods vehicle, being a vehicle which has been let on hire by the person who at the time of the carriage of the goods is within the meaning of this Part of this Act the user of the vehicle, the goods shall be deemed to be carried by that person for hire or reward.
(5) For the purposes of this Part of this Act—
(a ) the delivery or collection by a person of goods sold, used or let on hire or hire purchase in the course of a trade or business carried on by him;
(b ) the delivery or collection by a person of goods which have been, or are to be, subjected to a process or treatment in the course of a trade or business carried on by him;
(c ) the carriage by a person engaged in agriculture in any locality of goods for or in connection with the business of agriculture carried on by another person in that locality, so long as the goods are carried in a vehicle which the person carrying them is authorised by a licence to use for the carriage of goods for or in connection with his agricultural business;
(d ) the carriage of goods in a vehicle which is being used under, and in accordance with the regulations applicable to, a licence taken out by a manufacturer or dealer under section nine of the Roads Act, 1920 , or by a repairer under section fifteen of the Finance Act, 1922 ;
(e ) the carriage of goods in a vehicle by a manufacturer, agent, or dealer, whilst the vehicle is being used by him for demonstration purposes,
shall not be deemed to constitute a carrying of the goods for hire or reward.
(6) It is hereby declared that, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, the performance by a local or public authority of its functions shall be deemed to be the carrying on of a business.
(7) This section shall not apply—
(a ) to the use of a vehicle (including a trailer drawn thereby) in any case where the excise duty in respect of the vehicle under section thirteen of the Finance Act, 1920 , is chargeable at one of the rates applicable to vehicles specified in sub-paragraph (a ) or sub-paragraph (d ) of paragraph 4, or in sub-paragraph (a ) of paragraph 5, of the Second Schedule to the Finance Act, 1920, as amended by the Finance Act, 1933 , or any subsequent enactment, for any of the agricultural or other ancillary purposes for which exclusively the vehicle must be used if the duty is to remain chargeable at that rate;
(b ) to the use for any purpose other than the carriage of goods for hire or reward of a trailer when drawn by a vehicle constructed solely for the carriage of not more than seven passengers, exclusive of the driver, and their effects;
(c ) to the use of a tramcar or trolley vehicle in pursuance of the powers of any special Act of Parliament or any order having the force of an Act;
(d ) to the use of a public service vehicle as a stage carriage, express carriage, or contract carriage in pursuance of a licence granted under the Road Traffic Act, 1930 ;
(e ) to the use of a hackney carriage as defined in section four of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888 , when being used as such a carriage;
(f ) to the use of a vehicle for the purposes of funerals;
(g ) to the use by a local authority, or a person acting in pursuance of a contract with a local authority, of a vehicle for road cleansing, road watering or the collection or disposal of refuse, night-soil or the contents of cesspools, or for the purposes of the enactments relating to weights and measures or the sale of food and drugs;
(h ) to the use of a vehicle for police, fire brigade or ambulance purposes;
(i ) to the use of a vehicle for towing a disabled motor vehicle, or for removing goods from a disabled vehicle to a place of safety;
(j ) to the use of a vehicle for miners' rescue purposes under the provisions of section eighty-five of the Coal Mines Act, 1911 ;
(k ) to the use of a vehicle for any purpose specified in regulations, or the use for any purpose of a vehicle of any class or description so specified.
(8) If any person uses a vehicle in contravention of this section, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Part of this Act.
2 Classes of licences.
(1) Licences shall be of the following classes:—
(a ) public carriers' licences;
(b ) limited carriers' licences;
(c ) private carriers' licences.
(2) A public carrier's licence (in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘an A licence’) shall entitle the holder thereof to use the authorised vehicles for the carriage of goods for hire or reward, or for the carriage of goods for or in connection with his business as a carrier of goods, whether by road transport or any other kind of transport, but it shall be a condition of the licence that no vehicle which is for the time being an authorised vehicle shall be used for the carriage of goods for or in connection with any other trade or business carried on by him except such storage or warehousing of goods as may be incidental to his business as a carrier.
In relation to a licence held by a person carrying on a canal, dock or harbour undertaking, the reference in this subsection to the use of vehicles for the carriage of goods for or in connection with the business of the holder of a licence as a carrier of goods shall include a reference to the use of vehicles for the carriage of goods for, or in connection with, that undertaking.
(3) A limited carrier's licence (in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘a B licence’) shall entitle the holder thereof to use the authorised vehicles, as he thinks fit from time to time, either for the carriage of goods for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by him, or, subject to any conditions which the licensing authority, in the exercise of his discretion to attach conditions to a B licence, may attach to the licence, for the carriage of goods for hire or reward.
(4) A private carrier's licence (in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘a C licence’) shall entitle the holder thereof to use the authorised vehicles for the carriage of goods for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by him, subject to the condition that no vehicle which is for the time being an authorised vehicle shall be used for the carriage of goods for hire or reward.
Notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, the licensing authority may, in a case of emergency and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to impose, authorise the holder of a C licence to use an authorised vehicle for the carriage of goods for any person to whom he lets the vehicle, if the authority is satisfied that the needs of that person cannot conveniently be met from other sources.
(5) In this Part of this Act the expression ‘authorised vehicle’ means in relation to any licence a vehicle authorised to be used thereunder.
(6) The vehicles authorised to be used under a licence shall be—
(a ) such motor vehicles, being vehicles belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under a hire purchase agreement, as are specified in the licence;
(b ) motor vehicles from time to time in the possession of the holder of the licence under an agreement for hire or loan, not exceeding at any time such maximum number as is specified in the licence;
(c ) trailers from time to time belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under an agreement for hire purchase, hire or loan, not exceeding at any time such maximum number as is specified in the licence;
(d ) in the case of a C licence, subject to the provisions of the next succeeding subsection, any motor vehicle belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under a hire purchase agreement, but acquired by him, or coming into his possession under such an agreement, only after the grant of the licence.
For the purposes of paragraph (b ) or paragraph (c ) of this subsection, different types of motor vehicles or different types of trailers, as the case may be, may be distinguished in a licence and a maximum number may be specified in the licence for...
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