Can you drive a minibus - part 2

I wrote yesterday about my concerns about recruiting volunteers for community transport operators as most volunteers today only have Class B licenses and so cannot carry fare-paying passengers without first taking a very expensive PSV course and examinations to get a D1 endorsement. Drivers licensed before 1997 automatically have a D1 endorsement.

On this topic I have asked the CTA, experts in community transport development at Suffolk County Council and in several other places and I got a confusing range of answers. Most of the literature or advice I got came down into this:

A Section 19 permit under the 1986 Transport Act would cover a minibus for an elderly day care centre so a Class B volunteer driver can drive them.

Section 22 of the act covers volunteer-driven buses for public fare-paying passengers such as the Halesworth 511 service, thus a Class B volunteer driver can’t drive them.

I understood that if you run a bus and allow the public to board and charge fares, you HAVE to be section 22, so B class licenses can’t drive these community buses because under section 19 you can’t charge fares or pick up the public. At least that is how I understood it and everyone else said much the same.

However, looking further, it seems there is an “E-class” exemption to the section 19 regulations enacted in 2009 so that if a section 19 service is the only way a rural community can have a bus, then a service permitted under section 19 can pick up the public and charge fares, so long as the driver isn’t paid and the service is not-for-profit. So I must presume then that class B licenses can drive fare-paying passengers if their section 19 permit is written to cover E class passengers.

Here’s the relevant bit of regulations from a VOSA leaflet: http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/PSV%20385%2018%20November%2009.pdf

Passenger transport provided under Section 19 or Section 22 permits

(Revised 2009 PSV 385 - 01)

Who may be carried on the vehicle:

A vehicle being used under a section 19 permit must not be used to carry members of the general public. Each section 19 permit, and corresponding disc, will indicate the particular classes of persons who may be carried.

Each permit and disc will specify one or more of the following classes of person:

A, B, C, D, etc.

Class E - Persons living within a geographically defined local community, or group of communities, whose public transport needs are not met other than by virtue of services provided by the body holding the permit;

Class F -Any other classes of persons specified in the permit.

For example, a permit issued to a scout group might indicate that only members of the scout group and persons assisting or supervising them may be carried. In that case the vehicle could not be used under the permit to carry persons who had no association with the scout group. Alternatively, such a permit may state that vehicles used under the permit may carry members of a girl guide group, as well as the scout group, which would then enable girl guides to travel on vehicles used under the permit.

If your organisation wishes to have a permit permitting the carriage of persons in Class E or Class F you will need to supply further information with your application.

For Class E you should clearly state what the local community is, for example it may be residents of a village or group of villages, or other isolated rural communities. You should be aware that failure to supply sufficient information may lead to a delay in the processing of your application or even its refusal.

Section 19 permits and isolated communities

Vehicles used under a section 19 permit may not carry members of the general public, but as a result of changes which came into force on 6th April 2009 the law now provides greater clarity about the use of section 19 permits to meet the transport needs of people living in rural and other isolated communities. The key change is the introduction of the new Class E mentioned above, which sets out two conditions. VOSA consider that, where these two conditions are met, the service is not being provided for the "general public".

First, where a permit authorises the carriage of persons in Class E, the permit will specify the geographically-defined local community, or group of communities, in question. The legislation is not specific about the size of area that may be specified, but any such area must be clearly local in nature. This will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis, but in general an area encompassing a group of neighbouring villages is likely to be "local" in nature, while an area covering a number of towns is unlikely to be.

Secondly, people are only eligible under Class E if their public transport needs would not be met other than by the services provided by the permit-holder. An example might be that of a large retail park in a town at which a number of people living in outlying villages are employed. If there is no public transport which employees could use to get to the retail park for, say, 8 o'clock in the morning and back again at 7 o'clock in the evening, a body may be formed by the employees (not by the businesses on their behalf) to provide appropriate transport under a section 19 permit, using Class E.

The Class E entitlement would only fall if public transport which would meet the needs of those employees were to be provided. So, if a new bus service was introduced providing services from the villages to a local market town twice a week, our view is that it would not affect the services operated under the permit because those services would not meet the public transport needs of the employees at the retail park. But if a daily bus service were to be introduced, serving all the places served by the permit holder from 6 o'clock in the morning until 9 o' clock at night, then our view is that the permit could no longer continue to be used under Class E for that particular group of people.

This revelation, if my understanding is correct, does not detract from my concerns though; that the PSV is far too expensive for CTOs to support and there are many areas, such as rural/urban fringes that would probably not be able to classify their operations under Section 19 E class but without them, they would probably have very poor public transport from a commercial operator.

As I have spent many, many unpaid hours trying to understand all this regulation just to answer one simple question: “can I volunteer for my community bus?” I really think the matter of simplification of regulations should be looked into or better explained by the CTA/VOSA or whichever quango is responsible.

And, given the unpaid time I have spent working all this out, it’s no wonder many in my field think the Big Society will struggle to find enough volunteers.

I will be updating my chart anon.