UK Offence Report

Operation of parking place without a licence—penalties

article 14 of The Control of Off-Street Parking (England and Wales) Order 1978

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

14 Subject to Article 16 of this Order and to the provisions of Part V of the Schedule to this Order, any person who, in contravention of Article 5 of this Order operates a public off-street parking place without holding a licence for the purpose shall be liable on summary conviction— a to a fine not exceeding £200; or b in the case of a second or subsequent conviction of an offence under this Article, to a fine not exceeding £400.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 article 14?

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 Control of Off-Street Parking (England and Wales) Order 1978, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
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
24 October 1978
In force from
1 December 1978
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.

This Order applies, with appropriate modifications, the provisions of section 36 of, and Schedule 5 to, the Transport (London) Act 1969 (c. 35) to England (outside Greater London) and to Wales. These provisions deal with the control of public off-street parking. The text of the Order follows closely the wording of the 1969 Act but incorporates the changes required or permitted by section 11 of the Transport Act 1978. Articles 3 and 4 of the Order enable county councils in England and Wales by regulations to designate controlled areas in which under Article 5 the provision of public off-street parking places will require a licence from the relevant district council. The procedure for such designation is set out in Part I of the Schedule. Articles 6 and 7 provide for permanent or limited licences and for the terms and conditions of licences. Inspection of parking places is provided for in Article 8. Local authorities are required by Article 9 to give reasons for their decisions. Article 10 and Part II of the Schedule deal with the transfer, surrender, variation and revocation of licences. Provision for appeals against decisions with respect to licences and for compensation in certain cases is made in Articles 11 and 13 and in Parts III and IV of the Schedule. Contravention by the holder of a licence of its terms and conditions is an offence (Article 12) as also is the operation of a public off-street parking place without a licence (Article 14). County councils and local authorities are required by Article 15 to apply the principles of the control to their own public off-street parking places situated in a controlled area. Article 16 gives the Secretary of State power to suspend the control in an emergency. Part V of the Schedule provides for permissible periods of unlicensed operation of public off-street parking places in certain cases.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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
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