Road Traffic Act, 1968

PART III

Driving Licences

Regulations in relation to control of driving instruction.

18.—(1) The Minister may make regulations in relation to the control of the giving for reward of instruction in or in respect of the driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular and without any prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), provide for all or any of the following matters:

(a) the licensing of driving instructors;

(b) the qualifications of licensed driving instructors;

(c) the payment of specified fees in respect of licences and applications for licences and the disposition of such fees;

(d) the conduct and duties of licensed driving instructors;

(e) the keeping and inspection of specified records, the issue of specified certificates and the specifying of the persons by whom such records are to be kept and such certificates are to be issued;

(f) the inspection of courses of instruction given by licensed driving instructors and of vehicles used by them when giving such courses;

(g) the prohibition or the restriction of the giving for reward by a person other than a licensed driving instructor, of instruction in or in respect of the driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle, and the prohibition of a person from employing a driving instructor who is not a licensed driving instructor for the purpose of giving instruction for reward in or in respect of the driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle;

(h) the prohibition of a person other than a licensed driving instructor from holding himself out as a licensed driving instructor, and the prohibition of a person employing a driving instructor other than a licensed driving instructor from holding that driving instructor out as a licensed driving instructor;

(i) the type of vehicle in which the giving for reward of instruction in or in respect of the driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle may be carried on, the fittings required to be in or on such a vehicle and the prescribing of any other conditions subject to which such a vehicle may be used for such instruction.

(3) Different regulations may be made under this section in respect of different classes of vehicles and for different circumstances.

(4) A certificate purporting to be issued pursuant to regulations under this section and stating that a specified person was on a specified day the holder of a licence under the regulations shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign it or that he was the proper person to issue it, be evidence in any legal proceedings until the contrary is shown of the matters so stated.

(5) In a prosecution for an offence under this section in which a licence under regulations under this section is material, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown by the defendant, that at the material time, such a licence, then having effect, was not held.

(6) Whenever a person (in this subsection referred to as the instructor) is accompanying the holder of a provisional licence (within the meaning of section 35 of the Principal Act) while such holder is driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place, the instructor shall be deemed, in any prosecution for an offence under this section, to be giving for reward instruction in or in respect of the driving of that vehicle until the contrary is shown by the instructor.

(7) A person who contravenes a regulation under this section which is stated to be a penal regulation shall be guilty of an offence and, in the case of a contravention of a regulation prohibiting or restricting the giving for reward of instruction by a person other than a licensed driving instructor or prohibiting the employment of such a person for the purpose of giving instruction for reward, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.