UK Offence Report

Offence and level of fine

regulation 7 of The Rail Passengers Rights and Obligations (Designation and Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

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

7 For the purposes of Article

32 of Regulation 1371/2007,

a relevant person, who contravenes Regulation 1371/2007 or fails to comply with

a notice issued under regulation 6, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

What would breach regulation 7?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes Regulation 1371/2007 or fails to comply with a notice issued under regulation 6.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Rail Passengers Rights and Obligations (Designation and Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
11 May 2017
In force from
26 June 2017
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 give effect to Articles 30 and 32 of Regulation 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23rd October 2007 concerning the rights of rail passengers. This is directly applicable in member states. These Regulations also provide for the operational implementation of Regulation 1371/2007 in relation to the complaints handling and enforcement of these aspects of the rights of passengers in rail transport. Regulation 4 implements Article 30(1) of Regulation 1371/2007 by designating the Department for Infrastructure as being responsible for the enforcement of Regulation 1371/2007 and gives that Department the right to ask for information to assist it in carrying out their functions. Regulation 5 implements Article 30(2) of Regulation 1371/2007 by designating the Consumer Council as the body to which complaints may be made by passengers about alleged infringements of Regulation 1371/2007. Regulation 6 implements the enforcement measures which would apply where the EC regulation No. 1371/2007 has been contravened. Regulation 7 implements Article 32 of Regulation 1371/2007 by setting penalties applicable to those found guilty of infringements of Regulation 1371/2007 or failing to comply with a notice issued under regulation 6. Regulation 8 requires the railway undertaking to develop and maintain a system of reimbursement and compensation in line with Regulation 1371/2007. Regulation 9 enables persons who have suffered an infringement of their rights under Regulation 1371/2007 to seek compensation separately from any criminal penalty that may be imposed.

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 0.92.

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