Ministry of Transport and successors, Mechanical Engineering and Vehicle Engineering:...

MT 102

Ministry of Transport and successors, Mechanical Engineering and Vehicle Engineering: Registered Files

1929-1979

This series consists of files of the Mechanical Engineering Staff (including papers which were transferred to the Mechanical Engineering Staff on its establishment), the Mechanical Engineering Division and the Vehicle Engineering Division. They relate to the mechanical fitness of motor vehicles and their components, the investigation of road accidents, the provision of winter maintenance vehicles for motorways and trunk roads, and the running of motorway maintenance compounds.

The series also contains the papers of the"Cars for Cities" working group to suggest future trends for car design in metropolitan areas.

Papers concerning the pre-war Conferences with Certifying Officers are records of the earlier Roads Department of the Ministry of Transport.

Files of the Goods Vehicle Testing Branch are in MT 165

Some files from this series have been re-registered into the WM series in

MT 133

ME and VE series

Public Record(s)

English

• Department of the Environment, Mechanical Engineering Division, 1970-1972
• Department of the Environment, Vehicle Engineering Division, 1972-1976
• Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mechanical Engineering Staff, 1958-1959
• Ministry of Transport, Mechanical Engineering Division, 1965-1970
• Ministry of Transport, Mechanical Engineering Staff, 1959-1966
• Ministry of Transport, Road Safety, Road Transport and Vehicle Regulation, 1960-1965

390 file(s)

Open

From 1983 Department of Transport

Topics

Road Transport

Manufacturing

Transport management

Series is accruing

In 1958 the Mechanical Engineering Staff was established as part of the Highways Engineering Staff. When the Road Safety, Road Transport and Vehicle Regulation Division was set up in 1960, the Mechanical Engineering Staff was transferred to it. This Division was dissolved in 1965 and a Mechanical Engineering Division was established with responsibility for engineering aspects of vehicle safety and amenity standards for road vehicles. The Mechanical Engineering Division remained a separate Division on the establishment of the Department of the Environment in 1970. It was retitled the Vehicle Engineering Division in 1972 and was transferred to the newly established Department of Transport in 1976.

Mechanical Engineering Staff are primarily responsible for advising the Department on all technical matters relating to the design, construction, equipment, use and maintenance of motor vehicles, with particular reference to safety. They also co-ordinate the work of local and regional area technical staffs of professional engineers and vehicle examiners who are concerned with, inter alia, the inspection and certification of goods vehicles for mechanical fitness; the operation of road-side checks; the supervision of the activities of authorised examiners appointed for this purpose under the Road Traffic Acts, and the certification of technical information required under international agreements in respect of commercial vehicles proceeding abroad. They are also responsible for the development and provision of special equipment for snow clearing and gritting operations of motorways and trunk roads, and for the design of maintenance compounds on these roads.