The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026
The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Type: NI Statutory Rule
Year: 2026
Number: 119
Made: 2026-06-18
Coming into force: 2026-08-01
Last ingested: 2026-07-08 from legislation.gov.uk.
Explanatory note
Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.
These Regulations amend regulation 5 of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (“ 1996 Regulations ”) to permit the driving of zero-emission vehicles in certain circumstances in excess of the maximum authorised mass that would otherwise apply.
The Regulations allow a person who has held a category B licence for an aggregate period of not less than two years to drive a zero-emission vehicle designed and constructed for the carriage of no more than 8 passengers in addition to the driver with a maximum authorised mass not exceeding 4.25 tonne, or 5 tonnes for a zero-emission vehicle fitted with specialist equipment intended for the carriage of disabled passengers.
As is currently the case those category B licence holders may tow a trailer with a MAM not exceeding 750kgs provided that the zero-emission vehicle and trailer combination does not exceed a MAM of 5 tonnes.
The Regulations also allow a person who has held a category B licence for an aggregate period of not less than two years to drive a zero-emission vehicle and trailer combination provided that the maximum authorised mass of the trailer does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and the vehicle and trailer combination do not exceed a maximum authorised mass of 7 tonnes and provided that he has passed the prescribed test in respect of category B+E.
To ensure that minimum age requirements are consistent the Regulations modify the minimum age requirements for drivers of the zero-emission vehicles in question so that they are in line with those for category B vehicles while taking into account the requirement to have held the category B licence for an aggregate period of not less than 2 years.
An Explanatory Memorandum has been produced and is available from Driving, Vehicle and Road Safety Policy Division, Department for Infrastructure, James House, 2-4 Cromac Avenue, Belfast BT7 2JA or online alongside this Statutory Rule at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr