The Secretary of State may make regulations (in this Chapter referred to as "PSV accessibility regulations") for securing that it is possible for disabled persons—
to get on to and off regulated public service vehicles in safety and without unreasonable difficulty (and, in the case of disabled persons in wheelchairs, to do so while remaining in their wheelchairs), and
to travel in such vehicles in safety and reasonable comfort.
The regulations may, in particular, make provision as to the construction, use and maintenance of regulated public service vehicles, including provision as to—
the fitting of equipment to vehicles;
equipment to be carried by vehicles;
the design of equipment to be fitted to, or carried by, vehicles;
the fitting and use of restraining devices designed to ensure the stability of wheelchairs while vehicles are moving;
the position in which wheelchairs are to be secured while vehicles are moving.
In this section "public service vehicle" means a vehicle which is—
adapted to carry more than 8 passengers, and
a public service vehicle for the purposes of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981;
and in this Chapter "regulated public service vehicle" means a public service vehicle to which PSV accessibility regulations are expressed to apply.
The regulations may make different provision—
as respects different classes or descriptions of vehicle;
as respects the same class or description of vehicle in different circumstances.
The Secretary of State must not make regulations under this section or section 176 or 177 without consulting—
the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, and
such other representative organisations as the Secretary of State thinks fit.