UK Offence Report

Disability and prospective disability

article 6(2) of The Road Traffic (Driving Disqualifications) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Information relating to disabilities, etc. 19H Article 11 shall apply to a Great Britain licence holder who is normally resident in Northern Ireland as if— a in paragraph (1), for the words from the beginning to “aware” there were substituted “If a Great Britain licence holder who is authorised by virtue of Article 19E(1) to drive in Northern Ireland a motor vehicle of any class, is aware immediately before the relevant date, or becomes aware on or after that date”, b after that paragraph there were inserted— 1A For the purposes of paragraph (1) “relevant date” means— a in the case where the licence holder first became normally resident in Northern Ireland on or before the date on which Article 6 of the Road Traffic (Driving Disqualifications) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 comes into operation, that date; and b in any other case, the date on which he first became so resident. , c after paragraph (3A) there shall be inserted— 3B A person who— a is authorised by virtue of Article 19E(1) to drive in Northern Ireland a motor vehicle of any class, and b drives on a road a motor vehicle of that class, is guilty of an offence if at any earlier time while he was so authorised he was required by paragraph (1) to notify the Department but has failed without reasonable excuse to do so. , d in paragraph (4), the words “an applicant for, or” (in both places) were omitted, e in paragraph (5), the words “applicant or” and the words from the beginning of sub-paragraph (c) to “provisional licence” were omitted, f in paragraph (6)(b), the words “applicant or” (in both places) were omitted, g in paragraph (7), the words “applicant or” were omitted, and h in subsection (8)— i for “10” there were substituted “19G”, and ii the words “applicant or” (in both places) were omitted. .

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a great britain licence holder
Conduct
failing to comply with a notice or direction
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a great britain licence holder meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

ed by paragraph (1) to notify the Department but has failed without reasonable excuse to do so. , d in paragraph (4), the words “an applicant for, or” (in both places) were omitted, e in paragraph (5), the words “applicant or” and the words from the beginning of sub-paragraph (c) to “provisional licence” were omitted, f in paragraph (6)(b), th

What would breach article 6(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Being served with a notice under the Road Traffic (Driving Disqualifications) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
13 November 2003
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order is made only for purposes corresponding to those of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003. The Order provides that a person is disqualified for holding or obtaining a driving licence so long as he is subject to a relevant disqualification imposed outside Northern Ireland, and prohibits the holding of a Northern Ireland and a Great Britain driving licence.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source