Apply for a standard Section 19 bus permit

A Section 19 permit can only be granted to a body concerned with education, religion, social welfare, recreation or other activities of benefit to the community.

These permits are either:

• ‘standard permits’ for vehicles which are 9 or more passenger seats (do not include the driver seat) adapted to carry no more than 16 passengers
• ‘large bus permits’ for vehicles which are adapted to carry 17 or more passengers.

If you are using a smaller vehicle (less than 9 passenger seats), separate fares must be charged.

We only issue Standard permits (9 to 16 passenger seats). All other permits must be issued by the Traffic Commissioner (GOV.UK).

When you can apply

Only organisations which meet at least one of the following exemptions can apply for a Section 19 permit.

Non-commercial purposes

An applicant should be satisfied that its overall purpose in providing road passenger transport and all of those services are exclusively noncommercial.

Main occupation

In order to meet this exemption an applicant’s road passenger transport operation must be ancillary or complementary to another activity, which must demonstrably be their main occupation.

Short distance

Only applicants engaged exclusively in national transport operations and which have only a minor impact on the transport market because of the short distances involved can rely upon this exemption. Short distance is generally regarded as those services within a ten-mile radius or length, although longer distances can be considered in certain circumstances.

What you can do with a Section 19 permit

A permit allows an organisation to:

• operate transport services for hire or reward without the need for a full public service vehicle (PSV) operator’s licence - provided the services are neither carried out with a view to profit nor incidentally to an activity that is itself carried on with a view to profit
• transport their members, or people whom the organisation exists to help

Vehicles cannot be used to carry members of the general public.