AC v The Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Judge Turnbull |
| Neutral Citation | [2016] UKUT 305 (AAC),[2016] UKUT 305 (AAC) |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) |
| Subject Matter | Transport - Traffic Commissioner,DoE (NI) Appeals,DoE (NI) Appeals – Other |
| Date | 28 June 2016 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
AC v The Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors
[2016] UKUT 0305 (AAC)
GT/978/2016 1
IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL Case No. GT/978/2016
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER
1. This is a driving instructor’s appeal against a decision of a First-tier Tribunal (FTT)
made on 9 March 2016. For the reasons referred to below that decision was in my judgment
wrong in law. I allow the appeal, set aside the FTT’s decision and remit the matter for
redetermination by an entirely differently constituted FTT. In connection with that
redetermination I DIRECT as follows:
(1) The Appellant must sent to the First-tier Tribunals Service, within one
month from the date of issue of this decision, any additional documentation on which
he intends to rely at the rehearing.
(2) After the expiry of that one month period the appeal shall come before a
Judge of the First-tier Tribunal for consideration whether to direct that any additional
evidence be obtained.
2. I gave permission to appeal following an oral hearing of the application for
permission on 6 June 2016, at which the Appellant appeared in person and the Registrar
was represented (as he had been before the FTT) by Mrs Turland, an employee of the
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Since the grant of permission I have received a short
written submission in the appeal from the Registrar. I have not considered it necessary to
invite the Appellant to respond, or to hold a hearing of the appeal itself.
3. The FTT’s decision was to dismiss the Appellant’s appeal against a decision of the
Respondent, notified to the Appellant on 16 November 2015, refusing the Appellant’s
application for re-registration as an approved driving instructor.
4. Appeal to the Upper Tribunal from the FTT’s decision lies only on the ground of error
of law by the First-tier Tribunal.
The facts
5. The Appellant is a man now aged 51 whose name was first entered on the Register
in May 2011. His name was removed from the Register on 1 June 2015, following expiry of
his certificate of registration by effluxion of time on the last day of May 2015. He told me at
the hearing that his registration expired because, owing to the time which it took to obtain a
Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate, for which he had applied on 22 March 2015, he
was unable to apply for reregistration prior to the expiry of his registration.
6. (Mrs Turland informed me at the hearing of the application for permission that the
Registrar writes to registered instructors 7 months before the expiry of their registration,
advising them that the process of obtaining a DBS certificate may take several months. If an
applicant can show that he has applied for a DBS certificate in good time – i.e. not less than
3 months before the expiry of the registration - but the certificate has nevertheless not
arrived by the time of the expiry of the registration, the Registrar will provide the applicant
with a letter which will prevent him from being prosecuted for continuing to give paid driving
instruction whilst unregistered, if the delay in obtaining reregistration is due to the delay in
obtaining the DBS certificate).
7. In the event the Applicant’s DBS certificate was not issued until 28 September 2015.
He applied for reregistration on 5 October 2015. His DBS certificate, and his completed
application for re-registration, disclosed convictions in April 2001 for failing to provide a
specimen for analysis and failing to provide a specimen of breath, for which he was
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