UK Offence Report

Failure to comply with directions

article 8(1) of The Clydeport (COP 26 etc.) Harbour Revision Order 2021

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

1 A person who fails to comply with

a general direction or

a special direction is guilty of an offence and 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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.

What would breach article 8(1)?

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 fails to comply with a general direction or a special direction.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Clydeport (COP 26 etc.) Harbour Revision Order 2021 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
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Scotland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (CP(S)A 1995 s.225(2)), 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
12 October 2021
In force from
13 October 2021
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 extends the limits of the port for which Clydeport Operations Limited (“the Company”) are harbour authority to include the docks and works (article 3). An illustrative plan (defined in article 3) showing the port limits (including the docks and works) may be inspected during working hours at the main office of the Company at 16 Robertson Street, Glasgow, Strathclyde, G2 8DS and on its website. The Order confers updated general functions on the Company (article 4) and enables the issuing of general and special directions to vessels (articles 5 to 7). The Order provides for the enforcement of such general and special directions (article 8). The Order makes certain amendments to the 1965 Order (article 12). The Order provides that the Company will become the harbour authority for the temporary additional area (defined in article 2) during the COP 26 period (27 October to 11.59 p.m. of the 15November 2021) (article 16). The Clydeport Act and Orders 1965 to 2004 (excluding article 16 of the 1965 Order - power to dredge) will apply to the temporary additional area during the COP 26 period (article 17). The temporary additional area plan referred to in article 2 may be inspected during working hours at the main office of the Company at 16 Robertson Street, Glasgow, Strathclyde, G2 8DS. An impact assessment has not been prepared for this Order as there is no, or no significant, impact predicted on businesses, charities, voluntary bodies or the public sector.

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