Driving a minubus over 9 seats – what licence?

To throw another can of worms in to my van buying process

I have been offered a mint renault with 15 seats (I will probably reduce it to 12)

Now i know that you can drive 9 seater with a normal licence (or the one I acquired 15 years ago) but whats the score on 12/15 seater buses?

also this has a tacho, which i dont want…

any views?

You need a D1 licence, think it's a weeks course to upgrade.

Your fine as you got your licence before 1st January 1997 and will automatically have a D1 entitlement without having to do a test.

See here if you don't believe me and everyone else stop spouting rubbish.

If it's got a speedo as well as a tacho, you can ignore the tacho, or take it out and sell it as you choose.
If the tacho is just used as a speedo, all the seals need to be intact, but it doesn't matter if the stickers are out of date.

If you are familiar with driving vans, don't bother with the course, just take the test in your own minibus, although you will need someone with a D1 licence to get it to the test station for you.

I'm not sure, but removing seats and converting a vehicle from one class of PCV to another may be a notifiable alteration. If so, it will need inspecting by VOSA afterwards. Best check with VOSA or DVLA on that one.

That can't be right can it?

I got my lisense in 1993 and I have D1 on it!
It just came as part of it all.
Also have C1 E which means I can pull a trailer with a van as well.

I know I'm one of only two people who hold a lisense that would let me drive the school minibus without taking an extra test( purely for driving, not for carrying children), due to the fact it has a double axle and they all passed their tests after it was altered.

yoda they are both talking pish – see the link in my post above.

Stu

Its this bit below that confuses me

To drive a minibus that has nine or more passenger seats for hire or reward you will normally need passenger carrying vehicle (PCV) entitlement. To obtain this you must meet higher medical standards and take a further driving test. However, if you drive a minibus for an organisation under the minibus or community bus permit scheme you will not need to have the higher PCV entitlements.

I will be using the bus to airport transfers and shuttle people with bikes up the mountain for my holiday company. now does that fall under Hire or reward? what does that mean exactly? a taxi?

I can drive the uni minibuses with no extra licence, dunno why though.

I think even if the bus service is part of an overall package, it is still Hire & Reward and may be subject to tacho rules.
For example, the Cwn Down minibuses operate under tacho rules.

Ah, I'd have thought that would classify as hire or reward so yes you'd need a PCV entitlement as far as I can see. Though presumably you'd be doing it in Italy so it'd depend on what the law there is? So I've no idea basically.

This one is a can of worms.
You can drive a mini-bus without a PCV if it is not for hire or reward or you are exempted by section 19, driving for educational purposes. You still require a D1 for more than 16 seaters.See here

Age restrictions

to have an italian registered bus with more than 9 seats is a nightmare.

Lokks like the same in the UK 🙁

Back to the renault trafic then

Thanks for your help guys!

Just one note to think about, your not allowed in lane 3 of the Motorway with anything 9 seats or over!!