Roads

Are you a minibus driver?

People who work for Medway Council or drive on behalf of the council must be trained under the Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme (MiDAS). Based on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents' (ROSPA) minibus code of practice, the scheme provides award-winning training.

Full courses and refresher courses for individual drivers are available from £65 to £100. Courses to train a driver as an assessor range from £200 to £400 and allow that person to train other drivers. The Community Transport Association (CTA) maintains lists of MiDAS-accredited training providers.

Regional list for Kent

To find out about training an accredited assessor or for more about MiDAS, visit the CTA website:

• www.ctauk.org/index.aspx?id=310;
• www.ctauk.org/index.aspx?id=150;

phone 08707 743586; or contact the council's Road Safety Team using the details at the foot of this page.

MiDAS training

The scheme is organised by the Community Transport Association (CTA) (www.ctauk.org) and endorsed by RoSPA (www.rospa.com). These groups offer a variety of driver-training information to all local organisations that wish to improve the driving standards of their employees. In particular, please note the Minibus Safety Code of Practice (pdf 3,293KB) which can also be found on the the RoSPA website. To use this file, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this on your computer, please use our advice page to download it.

Legal requirements

Find out about the law on driving a minibus, including the type of licence you should hold, driving abroad and what you should do if you do not have the minibus entitlement at www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022498.

Learning to drive a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV)

If you passed your car (Category B) driving test for the first time after 1 January 1997, you are only licensed to drive vehicles with up to eight passenger seats (excluding the driver). To drive a minibus (nine to 16 passenger seats) you must be aged 21 years or older and hold a Category D1 entitlement.

Getting this entitlement can be a costly process but when you qualify, you will have demonstrated an ability above that of the ordinary car licence holder.

To find out more, visit the Driving Standards Agency website (www.dsa.gov.uk).

Minibus reassessments

The council's Road Safety Team no longer carries out minibus reassessments. Candidates should now contact other service providers or undertake the MiDAS training course.

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