Appendix 1
S.I. 2011/1120: memorandum from the Scotland Office
Motor Vehicles (Insurance Requirements) (Immobilisation,
Removal and Disposal) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1120)
By a letter dated 15th June 2011 the Committee
has asked for a memorandum on the following point:
Given the terms of paragraph 8 of Schedule 2A
to the Road Traffic Act 1988, what is the authority for the provision
made by regulations 10(5), 11(3), 12(4) and 13(4) to delegate
to the custodian of a vehicle the power to decide who counts as
the owner of the vehicle?
The Department considers that the authority for the
provision made by regulations 10(5), 11(3), 12(4) and 13(4) is
section 160(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 ("RTA").
Section 160(1) RTA allows regulations to be made generally for
the purpose of carrying Part 6 RTA into effect.
Paragraph 8 of Schedule 2A RTA has been relied upon
for regulation 2(3), (4) and (5) and the meaning of "owner"
in relation to a vehicle is set out both in circumstances where
a vehicle is the subject of a hiring or hire-purchase agreement
and otherwise.
The meaning of owner is such that a vehicle can have
more than one owner. For example, in a hire setting under regulations
11 and 12, the hire company and the person in possession under
the lease would both fall within the definition of "owner"
(regulation 2(4)). The same is true of registered keepers, where
there may be more than one keeper to whom a vehicle is registered,
resulting in there being more than one "owner" under
these regulations (regulation 2(5)).
It is therefore necessary to enable the custodian
of a vehicle to determine who should be treated as owner, when
faced with more than one.
What this means in practice is that, with the power
to select who should be treated as owner, under regulation 10
the custodian need communicate only with one owner about disposal
of the vehicle. Under regulation 11 the custodian may choose which
owner should pay the charges due. Under regulation 12, the custodian
may treat one of the interested parties as owner, which enables
the vehicle to be returned. Under regulation 13 the custodian
is able to pay the proceeds of a disposal to one of the owners,
enabling the provisions to operate effectively.
The custodian is not being given a power which allows
them to alter the meaning of "owner" in regulation 2(3)
to (5) but is being given the power to select between owners,
in circumstances when it would not be practical or appropriate
for the actions contemplated in regulation 10, 11, 12 or 13 to
be performed in relation to more than one person.
The ability of the custodian to make such selection,
where appropriate, is necessary for the purpose of the proper
operation of regulations 10, 11, 12 and 13. This is a purpose
for the carrying into effect of provisions of Part 6 RTA, as provided
for in section 160(1). Therefore the Department would submit that
the administrative delegation in regulations 10(5), 11(3), 12(4)
and 13(4) is authorised by section 160(1) RTA.
Similar provisions appear in the Vehicle Excise Duty
(Immobilisation, Removal and Disposal) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/2439)
to deal with the situation where there is more than one owner.
Reliance in that case was placed on the power in section 57(1)
of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 which provides,
similarly to section 160(1) RTA that "the Secretary of State
may make regulations generally for the purpose of carrying into
effect the provisions of this Act".
Department for Transport
21st June 2011
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