Wedding Car Business let down by Dept of Infrastructure

Dickson Disappointed with Failure to Change Legislation for Wedding Car Business

East Antrim MLA, Stewart Dickson, has expressed his disappointment at the failure of the Department of Infrastructure Minister to give a Direction and issue Exemption Certificates, that would put the Northern Ireland Wedding Car business on the same footing as the rest of the UK and RoI.

Mr Dickson said: “I have been working alongside these businesses who have been campaigning for the past 18 years to seek a reasonable framework that would specifically enable the Wedding Car sector to operate unencumbered by unnecessary aspects of driver and vehicle legislation. I believe that the Minister could so easily have utilised the Exemption Certificate tool to align NI with GB and RoI and thereby have all of the industry driving down the same route.

“Yet again part the excuse is the lack of legislative time to enable legislation. It is the ‘time factor’ that has prevented these issues being resolved over the years with the now normal ‘on/off’ of the Assembly contributing to the failure.

“The wedding car industry has a limited number of drivers and vehicles, all perfectly serviced and roadworthy like vintage Rolls Royce, Bentley and reproduction cars. It is difficult enough providing vehicles for a couples’ special day without loading this special business area with wholly unnecessary regulations.

Mr Dickson concluded: “Of course in the past two years Covid has not helped this long-running saga, nor has the hesitance of the Minister to apply a reasonable intervention and apply a Ministerial Direction to the Taxis Act (NI) 2008. I will be pressing the new minister, post the Assembly Election in May 2022, to conduct an early review of the current legislation, taking in policy considerations and a public consultation, and hopefully give common sense the opportunity to prevail.”

For more information, please get in touch with Noel Williams on 07739 191958 or at noel.williams@party.niassembly.gov.uk.