UK Offence Report

Contravention of requirements

regulation 13(3) of The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 If any provision of regulations 4 to 11 above is contravened the person who under this regulation is responsible for the contravention shall be guilty of an offence under section 12 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 13(3)?

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 under this regulation is responsible for the contravention.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 12 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) (England) Regulations 2009
Revoked on
1 October 2009
Made
4 August 1989
In force from
18 September 1989
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations provide for fire precautions to be taken in certain underground and low level railway stations used by members of the public. The railway stations to which the Regulations apply are described in regulation 3 by reference to the station having a railway platform which is wholly or mainly enclosed in a tunnel or building at a level below ground level. Regulation 4 specifies the precautions to be taken in the station premises in relation to the means of escape from the premises in case of fire. It imposes requirements as to keeping the premises free from obstruction and clear of combustible refuse, opening doors and barriers in case of fire, marking exits and providing adequate lighting. Regulation 5 requires the premises to be provided with means for fighting fire, including a water sprinkler system for every escalator and travolator and an automatic system for fighting fire in other parts of the premises where there is a risk of fire. Provision is also made for the fire brigade to be called in the event of fire in the premises and for facilitating fire fighting by the fire brigade. Regulation 6 requires the premises to be provided with means for detecting fire and for giving warning in case of fire, including heat detectors in escalators and travolators, smoke detectors in escalator and travolator machine rooms, an automatic system for detecting fire in other parts of the premises where there is a risk of fire, a fire alarm system and a public address system. Regulation 7 requires some parts of the premises, such as machine rooms and storage areas, to be separated from other parts of the premises by fire-resisting construction. Regulation 8 prescribes certain qualities of resistance to fire for materials used in or on internal walls and ceilings in the premises and for materials of which specified parts of escalators and travolators are constructed. Regulation 9 provides for persons working in the premises to receive instruction in fire precautions and for fire drills to be held there. Regulation 10 makes provision for additional precautions to be taken in the premises relating to the preparation of a plan for action in a fire emergency, the prevention of smoking, the supervision of construction and maintenance work and the attendance of staff. Regulation 11 requires records to be kept of maintenance work done on certain fire doors, fire-fighting equipment and fire alarm systems, and of the instruction given and fire drills held in the premises. Under regulation 12 a fire authority may grant exemption from specified provisions of the Regulations and may impose conditions on the grant of an exemption. Subject to any such exemption, regulation 13 makes the occupier of the station premises responsible for any contravention of the requirements imposed and makes it an offence for him to contravene the relevant provisions of the Regulations. Regulation 13 also provides for some requirements to be treated as satisfied in station premises in Scotland by compliance with provisions of the building standards regulations which, unlike building regulations in England and Wales, apply to station premises. The Regulations come into force generally on 18th September 1989 but some provisions of regulations 5, 6, 7 and 8 come into force on the later dates specified in regulation 1(3). Copies of the British Standards referred to in regulation 8(4) may be obtained from any of the sales outlets of the British Standards Institution or by post from the British Standards Institution, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6LE.

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.

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 0.61.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; c10_offence_under_parent_act
Confidence
0.61 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