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National Express Coaches: is wearing a seat belt now compulsory by British law?
In March, I travelled from Manchester to Liverpool by National Express Coach. I noticed that while every seat was fitted with a seat belt, which was new in my experience, there was no compulsion to wear them and the driver/crew did not insist passengers wore them. Therefore I treated it as optional and left it unfastened.
On Easter weekend, on Thursday before Good Friday, I travelled to Liverpool again on the same 060 scheduled service. Again I did not bother with the seat belt. The coach driver, before setting out, broadcast an announcement that all passengers must now by law wear a seat belt throughout the journey, and said that if the police checked the coach, any passenger found not to be wearing a belt would be fined.
In Liverpool, I spoke to a relative who runs a private coach and taxi company, and this coach-owner of forty years' experience was greatly surprised and said he'd heard of no such law, and certainly not one being enacted in the last three weeks.
So who's right? Was that coach driver spinning a yarn to impose conformity?
Thanks! My relative in Liverpool is an old-school taxi driver who realises that since his black cabs are fitted as standard with seatbelts, customers must legally use them, and no argument. He prefers his coaches to be the old style vehicles which do not have seatbelts, as buying new ones is a major capital investment, and he prefers them without as this is one less, largely irrelevant, thing to maintain and keep in good order (ie, it has nothing to do with their operational efficiency and safety of engines, gearing, transmission, brakes, suspension, et c, the things that matter). I spoke to his business partner, who sad that if you run older coaches which do not have belts there is no legal requirement to have them retrospectively fitted, and they prefer it that way, as an expense saved.
Anyway, some of the legal webpages I've been reading point to the police themselves saying this is a law that would be impossible to enforce - it depends on the operator and the compliance of pas
3 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
In the UK, seat belts must be worn at all times if they are fitted to a vehicle. Passengers may be exempt from wearing a seat belt on medical grounds only.
- Timbo is hereLv 71 decade ago
It has been law since 2007 and if caught not wearing one you can be fined £30
Your relative is way behind the times
Source(s): Source of proof - http://news.scotsman.com/nationalexpresscoachcrash...
