UK Offence Report

Any person who— a fails to comply with any requirement under paragraph 2(a) of this Regulation or to carry…

regulation 5(6) of The Carriage of Goods (Prohibition of Discrimination) Regulations 1977

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

6 Any person who—

a fails to comply with any requirement under paragraph 2(a) of this Regulation or to carry out his duty under paragraph (4) of this Regulation, or

b wilfully obstructs an examiner or an inspector in the exercise of his powers under paragraph 2(b), 3(b) or (5) of this Regulation shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding £100.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (wilfully).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: wilfully.

What would breach regulation 5(6)?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Carriage of Goods (Prohibition of Discrimination) Regulations 1977.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£100
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
21 February 1977
In force from
23 March 1977
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.

The Regulations make for Great Britain provisions supplementary to the requirements of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 11 of 1960 (relating to the abolition of discrimination in transport rates and conditions), which came into force in the United Kingdom on 1st October 1973. Regulation 3 relates to Article 5 of the EEC Council Regulation, dealing with the supply of information on tariffs or agreements concerning transport rates or conditions which vary according to the country of origin or destination of the goods in question. The Regulation makes it an offence for persons carrying on transport undertakings to fail to notify the Secretary of State of measures involving such tariffs or agreements. Regulation 4 relates to Article 6 of the EEC Council Regulation, concerning transport documents, and makes it an offence for a carrier of goods to fail to prepare or maintain the prescribed documents. Regulation 5 deals with the production of transport documents to examiners (as respects carriage by road) and inspectors (as respects carriage by rail and inland waterway) appointed respectively by the Secretary of State and confers on such examiners and inspectors power to enter premises for the purpose of inspecting transport documents. Regulation 6 deals with the supply of information to the Commission of the European Communities, Regulation 7 enables the Secretary of State to require the furnishing to him of information about transport tariffs and about agreements or arrangements on transport rates and conditions in order to enable him to secure the performance of obligations under the EEC Council Regulation, and Regulation 8 relates to the supply of false information. Regulation 9 deals with offences by officers of bodies corporate and persons acting as such officers and also with confidentiality of information. Regulation 10 relates to notices.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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