Supervising in Small Lorries and Minibuses – comment Bedford driving instructors

PEOPLE who passed a car driving test before 1997 and want to supervise learners in some other categories of vehicle have until April 2010 to get the necessary new qualification.

The new rules apply to those who obtained their car licence before 1997 and who supervise learners in small lorries (category C1), minibuses (D1) or vehicle plus trailer combinations (C1+E or D1+E).

They have until 6 April next year to meet the relevant medical standards and pass the appropriate driving test if they want to continue supervising learners in those vehicles.

Drivers who passed before 1997 were given so-called “grandfather rights” to drive small lorries and minibuses. They will be able to continue driving these vehicles but will only be able to give tuition in them if they pass the test for the relevant category before 6 April 2010.

But drivers who do not pass the relevant driving test before then will have to wait three years from the date they do pass until they can supervise learner drivers.

Most instructors who provide professional training in driving small lorries and minibuses will not be affected by the change as they have already passed a driving test in a larger vehicle.

But a minority with ‘grandfather rights’ have been supervising learners without having the appropriate pass themselves.

Trevor Wedge, Great Britain’s Chief Driving Examiner, said: “In the interests of road safety, it is important that learners are supervised by people who have proved themselves capable of driving the vehicle in question.

“It was never the intention to allow learner drivers to be supervised on public roads unless they were with people who had proven experience of driving those vehicles.”

Here is a letter from DSA which clarifies the situation: -

14th July 2009

 Clarification of the rules for holders of pre-1997 category B licences who may supervise learners driving in category C1 (medium size lorry), C1 +E, D1 (minibus) or category D1 +E vehicles.

 Dear Sir/Madam,    

 I am writing to you to inform you about the clarification of rules for people who may supervise learners driving category C1 (medium size lorry), C1 +E, D1 (minibus) and D1 +E category vehicles on a pre-1997 B category licence with implied entitlements.  We intended to clarify the definition of the accompanying or supervisor term.

 Learner drivers should not drive a vehicle on public roads unless they are supervised by a qualified driver.  The supervisor or accompanying driver must hold a full licence for the category of vehicle being driven.  They must also have held that licence for the relevant period of time – usually three years.  In our view, implied rights entitlements do not meet these criteria because of the restrictions attaching to the licence and the higher medical standards requirements.  Also, there are road safety issues involved where a person who has never passed the relevant driving test acts as the supervisor for a leaner driver in a category C1, D1 and vehicle plus trailer combinations.

 We intend to change the legislation from 6 April 2010, to clarify the requirements for supervising drivers in respect of these categories.

 These changes will not affect a person’s existing entitlement to drive C1, D1 & vehicle plus trailer combinations.  But they will prevent anyone from acting as a supervising driver in such vehicle categories if they only hold pre-1997 licence category B. 

 Persons,  particularly those in the driver training industry – who currently rely on implied rights entitlements and want to continue to supervise drivers in C1, D1 and vehicle plus trailer combinations, will need to pass the relevant driving test(s) and meet the  higher medical standards required by drivers of larger vehicles before 6 April 2010.

 If they pass the relevant driving test(s) and meet the appropriate medical standards after the legislation is clarified, they will have to wait until they have held their new entitlement for three years before they can act as the supervising driver.

 However, if they have passed a driving test for one category of vocational licence and have held that licence for a period of three years, they will only have to wait a period of one year from the date they pass the practical driving test for another category of vocational vehicle before they can supervise a learner driver in that category of vehicle.  The table below gives further details:

Column 1                                                      Column 2

(Licence held for three years)                      (Licence held for one year)

C1                                                                   D1

C1 +E                                                             D1 +E

D1                                                                   C1

D1 +E                                                             C1 +E

This letter is part of a communications strategy designed to ensure that those affected by this change will be made aware of it well in advance.  We have also produced a poster that announces the change to the regulation.  If you require any copies to distribute or exhibit in your premises please contact us at the email address:  Robin.thomas@dsa.gsi.gov.uk

If you have any enquiries about the above please ring customer service enquiries on 0300200 1122.

Yours faithfully

Georgia Georgiou

Marketing Manager

Source: DSA website and letter