UK Offence Report

Provisions supplementary to regulation 3

regulation 4(2) of Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

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

2 If the employer of drivers of

a vehicle to which regulation

3 applies fails without reasonable excuse to secure that they comply with paragraph (1)(a), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
breaching the provision
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 person 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

of drivers of a vehicle to which regulation 3 applies fails without reasonable excuse to secure that they comply with paragraph (1)(a), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 4(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
2 April 1996
In force from
3 June 1996
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 Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1979 and the Regulations which amended them as specified in the Schedule to these Regulations. The Regulations impose requirements regarding the installation and use of recording equipment (tachographs) in vehicles, and make provision for the inspection and repair of such equipmentl. In Regulation 2(1) the definition of the Community Recording Equipment Regulation has been amended to take account of the amendments to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3821/85 (O.J. No. L370, 31.12.85, p. 8) made by Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3314/90 (O.J. No. L318, 17.11.90, p. 20) and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3688/92 (O.J. No. L374, 22.12.92, p. 12). The amendments to the Council Regulation have been made to take account of technical changes in recording equipment in road transport. The maximum fines for breaches of the following regulations are now dealt with in terms of the standard scale, as follows: 1 In regulation 3 (penalty for failure to install or use recording equipment) the maximum fine remains unchanged and is now referred to as level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000). 2 In regulation 4(1) and (2) (penalty for failure to return record sheet and related offences) the maximum fines have been increased from £500 in each case to level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500). 3 In regulation 7(4) (penalty for obstructing a vehicle examiner) the maximum fine has been increased from £200 to level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000). 4 In regulations 5(2) (penalty for forgery of seals on recording equipment) and 7(5) (penalty for making false entry on a record sheet) the fine is now referred to as the statutory maximum (currently £5,000). In regulation 5(2) the fine remains unchanged at £5,000, and in regulation 7(5) it has been increased from £1,000 to £5,000. The fee payable for the grant of an approval of a fitter or workshop for the installation or repair of recording equipment has been reduced to £325 (previously the fee payable was £359) (regulation 9). Copies of the EEC Regulations referred to in these Regulations can be obtained from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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