Driving and vehicle licences
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• Mr Peter Walker, Secretary of State for the Environment, took over on April 1 legal responsibility for issuing driving and vehicle licences. On March 18 he laid before Parliament an Order under the Vehicle and Driving Licences Act 1969 transferring to himself the functions—now the legal responsibility of local authorities—of licensing drivers and licensing and registering vehicles.
. This transfer is in preparation for the issue of licences by the Department of the Environment from its Swansea computer centre. The centre is expected to start issuing licences direct to the public in 1973, and centralization should be completed by 1977.
But for the time being there will be no change in the usual procedure for obtaining driver and vehicle licences.
Mr Walker has also made, and has laid before Parliament to come into operation as from April 1, revised versions of both the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations and the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations. These revisions have been made in order to reflect the new legal situation arising from the transfer of licensing functions to the Secretary of State. The new Regulations are The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1971 and The Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971.