UK Offence Report

Public Liability Insurance

article 10(1) of The Swanage Light Railway Order 1987

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

“insurer” means any insurer or insurers authorised under the Insurance Companies Act 1982 to carry on in Great Britain or in Northern Ireland insurance business of a relevant class or who has corresponding permission under the law of another member state of the European Economic Community. b The Company shall at all times during the continuance of any lease or leases granted under article 4(1) hereof maintain an approved public liability policy in the joint names of the Company and the County Council with an insurer providing maximum cover in respect of any one accident on or occasioned by the operation of the Company’s railway of not less than £1 million and in default thereof the County Council may (without prejudice to any other powers granted under this Order) effect and maintain such a policy in respect of the Company’s railway and pay the premiums payable in respect thereof so that the premiums so paid and all incidental expenses shall be repaid by the Company to the County Council. c The Company shall at the request of the County Council produce to that Council such evidence as may be requisite for the purpose of proving compliance with the foregoing provisions in this paragraph. d The Company shall not work the Company’s railway unless there is in force such a public liability policy as is hereinbefore referred to. e If the Company shall fail to comply with the provisions of sub-paragraphs (b) or (d) of this paragraph they shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2,000 and on conviction on indictments to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 company
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 company 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 10(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 it is an offence to work the Company’s railway unless there is in force such a public liability policy as is hereinbefore referred.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Swanage Light Railway Order 1987, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,000
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
6 August 1987
In force from
7 August 1987
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.

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