| Administrative History | The statutory regulation of locomotives on the public highways was initially controlled by the 1865 Locomotives Act, imposing a speed limit of 4 m.p.h. and requiring vehicles to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag. 'Light locomotives', as the first motor cars were called, i.e. vehicles of under 3 tons, were exempted from these restrictions by the Locomotives on Highways Act, passed in 1896, although made subject to a 12 m.p.h. speed limit and the payment of an annual excise duty to the Inland Revenue. County Councils could pass bye-laws to regulate their use on bridges - Cheshire introduced a 6 m.p.h. speed limit - see CCP 1-2 for relevant bye-laws.
The Locomotives Act of 1898 made the County and County Borough Councils responsible for the licencing of locomotives used for goods haulage and the registration of agricultural locomtives and steam road rollers. Subsequently, the Motor Car Act of 1903 added the registration of light locomotives or motor cars and the issue of driving licences. This Act raised the speed limit to 20 m.p.h. and sought to enforce its provisions by establishing a means of identifying both cars and drivers. All motor vehicles were to be registered and display their registration mark in a prominent position and all drivers, with a minimum age of 17, were to be licenced annually, paying a registration fee of 20 shillings and a licence fee of 5 shillings. Penalties were introduced for speeding, reckless driving and driving without a licence. Driving tests were not introduced until 1934.
The Development and Road Improvements Fund Act of 1909 created a Road Fund out of duties, vehicle excise revenues and a petrol tax which made grants to local authorities for approved highway works.
After the passage of the Finance Act of 1908, the County Council established a Local Taxation Committee to deal with its newly acquired responsibilities for the collection of duties and enforcement of penalties, with regard to licences for game, guns, dogs and establishment licences - male servants, armorial bearings and carriages, including motor vehicles. The Clerk of the Council was appointed County Licencing Officer by the Postmaster General in 1910. By 1920 the Licencing Department consisted of a Chief Clerk, with 11 other clerks.
Since 1888, the revenues from these and other duties, notably on alcohol and tobacco, had been collected by the Inland Revenue and paid into the Government's Local Taxation Account, which was used for annual rate support grants to local authorities. Some of these duties were later abolished or replaced by others, such as those on hawkers, pawnbrokers, money-lenders and purveyors of refreshments, under the Finance Act of 1948.
The Road Act of 1920 transferred responsibility for collecting vehicle excise licence duty and imposing penalties to the County Council and the Committee was re-named the Local Taxation and Road Fund Licences Committee, dissolved in 1967, when its functions were inherited by the Parliamentary and General Purposes Committee.
Local authority responsibility for motor vehicle registration and the issue of driving licences was given to the Department of the Environment by the Vehicle and Driving Licences Act of 1969, although they continued to provide the service on an agency basis until 1978.
The residual licencing duties of the County Councils were transferred to the district councils after local government re-organisation in 1974.
For a history of local taxation and the motor car in Cheshire - see Laughter in the House CCL 5/1/1. Warrington County Borough motor vehicle records - see LBWa 09610. |