UK Offence Report

30 Any contravention of, or failure to comply with, a provision in regulations 21(3) and (4), 23, 24, 25(1)…

regulation 30 of The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

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

30 Any contravention of, or failure to comply with,

a provision in regulations 21(3) and (4), 23, 24, 25(1) and (3), 26(1), (2) and (3) or 28(6) is an offence for the purposes of section 57(8).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 30?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
28 June 2012
In force from
1 July 2012
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 are made under the powers conferred by the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act (Northern Ireland) 2010. The Regulations set out the process for obtaining a Goods Vehicle Operator’s Licence. Part 1 (regulations 1 and 2) contains general commencement and interpretation provisions. Part 2 (regulations 3 to 8 and Schedules 1 and 2) prescribes matters relating to applications for Operator Licences and in particular, the manner, and time, in which applications are to be made. Part 3 (regulations 9 to 12) prescribes various matters relating to objections and representations. In particular, they specify which trade union and associations may make objection and the manner and time within which objections or representations shall be made. Part 4 (regulations 13 to 17) contains provisions about operating centres and the conditions as to use of the operating centre which may be attached to a licence (including number, type and size of goods vehicles, parking and access arrangements and times of operation). Part 5 (regulation 18 and Schedule 3) prescribes various matters relating to inquiries held by the Department of the Environment (the Department). Part 6 (regulation 19 and 20) prescribe matters relating to the content, publication and availability of statements (known as “Applications and Decisions”) by the Department, and relating to the provision of reasons for its decisions. Part 7 (regulations 21 to 32 and Schedule 4) prescribe other matters relating to Operator Licences and, in particular, regulation 30 creates an offence for contravening or failing to comply with specified obligations contained in these Regulations. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and copies are available from Transport Regulation Unit, Department of the Environment, Bedford House, 16 – 22 Bedford Street, Town Parks, Belfast BT2 7FD or viewed online at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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