UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) Order

article 2 of The Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016

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

Any other fixed penalty offence £30 In this Schedule at items 54 and 55 a “fixed penalty offence” is an offence specified in the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) (Offences) Order (Northern Ireland) 1997.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
acting without the licence or authorisation required
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (with intent to) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses with intent to - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach article 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. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016.
  2. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
  3. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
£30
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
18 March 2016
In force from
31 May 2016
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 prescribes the amount of fixed penalties for certain fixed penalty offences by substituting Schedule 1 to the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 (“the Principal Order”). It amends the Principal Order to provide for new fixed penalty offences which have been specified as such by Article 2 of the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty) (Offences) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016. The new fixed penalties relate to offences committed under the Taxis Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. An Explanatory Memorandum has been produced and is available from Road Safety and Vehicle Regulation Division, Department of the Environment, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Town Parks, Belfast BT2 8GB or 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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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