Vehicles (Excise) Act 1949
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1949 c. 89 |
| Year | 1949 |
Vehicles (Excise) Act , 1949
(12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 89
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to excise duties on mechanically propelled vehicles, and to the licensing and registration of such vehicles, with such corrections and improvements as may be authorised under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act, 1949.
[16th December 1949]
Be 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:—
Charge of duties and rates thereof
1 Charge of duties.
1. Subject to the provisions of this Act—
2 Duties on certain vehicles not exceeding 8 cwt. in weight unladen.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the duty chargeable in respect of a mechanically propelled vehicle of a description specified in the first column of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, being a vehicle which does not exceed eight hundredweight in weight unladen, shall be at the rate specified in relation to that vehicle in the second column of the said Part I:
Provided that the said Part I shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part II of the said Schedule.
(2) If a bicycle chargeable with duty under the last foregoing subsection is used for drawing a trailer or sidecar, there shall be chargeable in respect thereof duty at the rate specified in the third column of Part I of the said First Schedule, in addition to the duty chargeable under the said last foregoing subsection.
(3) Vehicles chargeable with duty under this section shall not be chargeable with duty under section three or section five of this Act.
3 Duties on hackney carriages.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the duty chargeable in respect of a hackney carriage—
(a ) in the case of a hackney carriage being a tramcar, shall be at the rate specified in relation to such a carriage in the fourth column of the Second Schedule to this Act;
(b ) in the case of any other hackney carriage, shall, according to the number of persons (excluding the driver) as set out in the second and third columns of the said Schedule for which the vehicle has seating capacity, be at the rate specified in relation to that number of persons in the fourth and fifth columns of that Schedule.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the seating capacity of a vehicle shall be determined in accordance with regulations made by the Minister.
4 Duties on tractors, etc.
(1) The duty chargeable in respect of a mechanically propelled vehicle to which this section applies shall, according to the description and weight unladen of the vehicle as set out in the first, second and third columns of the Third Schedule to this Act, be at the rate specified in relation to a vehicle of that description and weight in the fourth and fifth columns of that Schedule.
(2) This section applies to the following mechanically propelled vehicles, that is to say—
(a ) locomotive ploughing engines, tractors, agricultural tractors and other agricultural engines, which are not used on public roads for hauling any objects except as follows, that is to say—
(i) for hauling their own necessary gear, threshing appliances, farming implements, a living van for the accommodation of persons employed in connection with the vehicle, or supplies of water or fuel required for the purposes of the vehicle or for agricultural purposes;
(ii) for hauling from one part of a farm in the occupation of the person in whose name the vehicle is registered under this Act to another part of that farm, agricultural produce of, or articles required for, the farm;
(b ) vehicles designed, constructed and used for the purpose of trench digging or any kind of excavating or shovelling work, which—
(i) are used on public roads only for that purpose or for the purpose of proceeding to and from the place where they are to be used for that purpose; and
(ii) when so proceeding neither carry nor haul any load other than such as is necessary for their propulsion or equipment;
(c ) vehicles designed and constructed as mobile cranes which—
(i) are used on public roads only either as cranes in connection with work being carried on on a site in the immediate vicinity or for the purpose of proceeding to and from a place where they are to be used as cranes; and
(ii) when so proceeding neither carry nor haul any load other than such as is necessary for their propulsion or equipment;
(d ) mowing machines;
(e ) tractors, agricultural tractors and agricultural engines (other than vehicles mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection) which—
(i) are registered under this Act in the name of a person engaged in agriculture; and
(ii) are not used on public roads for hauling any objects except the produce of, or articles required for the purposes of, the agricultural land occupied by that person;
(f ) vehicles (other than vehicles mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection) which are constructed and used on public roads for haulage solely and not for the purpose of carrying or having superimposed upon them any load except such as is necessary for their propulsion or equipment.
(3) Vehicles to which this section applies by virtue of paragraph (c ) of the last foregoing subsection shall not be chargeable with duty under section five of this Act.
5 Duties on goods vehicles.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the duty chargeable in respect of a goods vehicle of a description specified in the first column of Part I of the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall, according to the weight unladen of the vehicle as set out in the second and third columns of the said Part I, be at the rate specified in relation to that weight in the fourth and fifth columns of the said Part I.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, if a goods vehicle is used for drawing a trailer there shall be chargeable in respect thereof, according to the description and weight unladen of the vehicle as set out in the first, second and third columns of Part II of the said Fourth Schedule, duty at the rate specified in relation to a vehicle of that description and weight in the fourth column of the said Part II, and any duty chargeable under this subsection shall be in addition to the duty chargeable under the last foregoing subsection.
(3) A mechanically propelled vehicle constructed or adapted for use and used for the conveyance of a machine or contrivance and no other load except articles used in connection with the machine or contrivance shall, notwithstanding that the machine or contrivance is built in as part thereof, be chargeable with duty as a goods vehicle under this section, as if the machine or contrivance were burden and were not to be included in the weight unladen of the vehicle for the purpose of computing the amount of the duty:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to any vehicle chargeable with duty under the last foregoing section.
(4) Where a goods vehicle used for drawing a trailer has the trailer attached to it by partial super-imposition, the vehicle and trailer shall, for the purpose of determining the amount of duty chargeable under this section, be treated as if they together form a single vehicle, and the vehicle shall not be chargeable with any additional duty under subsection (2) of this section.
(5) For the purposes of this section, the expression ‘trailer’ shall not include—
(a ) an appliance not exceeding five hundredweight in weight which is constructed and used solely for the purpose of distributing on the road loose untreated gritting material;
(b ) a snow plough;
(c ) a road construction vehicle, if the road construction machinery built in or permanently attached to the vehicle is used for no purpose other than the construction or repair of roads at the public expense;
(d ) a farming implement not constructed or adapted for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description, when drawn by a farmer's goods vehicle;
(e ) a trailer used solely for the carriage of a container for holding gas for the propulsion of the vehicle by which it is drawn, or plant and materials for producing such gas.
6 Duties on vehicles not chargeable with duty under sections 2 to 5.
6. The duty chargeable in respect of any mechanically propelled vehicle which is not chargeable with duty under any of the last four foregoing sections of this Act shall, according to the description of the vehicle as set out in the first column of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, be at the rate specified in relation to a vehicle of that description in the second column of that Schedule.
Exemptions from duty
7 Exemptions from duty.
(1) No duty shall be chargeable under this Act in respect of any of the following mechanically propelled vehicles, that is to say—
(a ) fire engines;
(b ) vehicles kept by a local authority while they are used for the purposes of their fire brigade service;
(c ) ambulances;
(d ) road rollers;
(e ) vehicles used on tram lines, not...
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