UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Road Traffic (Carriage of Explosives) Regulations 1989

the instrument as a whole of The Road Traffic (Carriage of Explosives) Regulations 1989

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Road Traffic (Carriage of Explosives) Regulations 1989.

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 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not 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 Road Traffic (Training of Drivers of Vehicles Carrying Dangerous Goods) Regulations 1992
Revoked on
1 July 1992
Made
5 April 1989
In force from
3 July 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 impose requirements with respect to the safety and security of explosives carried by road. The Regulations:– a prohibit the carriage of explosives in Compatibility Group K, and also prohibit the carriage of explosives which have not been classified under the Classification and Labelling of Explosives Regulations 1983 unless they are carried in connection with an application for classification and in accordance with conditions approved by the Health and Safety Executive or (in the case of military explosives) by the Secretary of State for Defence (regulation 4); b prohibit the carriage of explosives in a vehicle used to carry passengers for hire or reward except in accordance with specified conditions including conditions as to the type and quantity of explosives carried (regulation 5); c require vehicles and freight containers to be suitable having regard to the type and quantity of explosives carried, and impose quantity limits for various types of explosives (regulation 6 and Schedule 2); d prohibit the carriage of mixed loads of explosives except in specified circumstances, and require measures to be taken to prevent explosives being brought into contact with dangerous substances or endangering or being endangered by such substances (regulation 7 and Schedule 3); e impose requirements with respect to the marking of vehicles, subject to specified exceptions (regulation 8 and Schedule 4); f prohibit the removal of explosives from the consignor’s premises unless the operator is ready immediately to despatch them (regulation 9); g require the consignor to give the operator of the vehicle written information about the load; and require specified information to be kept on the vehicle throughout the journey and shown on request to any police officer or traffic examiner, subject to exceptions for specified types and quantities of explosives (regulations 9 and 10); h require the operator of the vehicle and any person engaged in the carriage or having custody or control of the explosives during the carriage to take such steps as it is reasonable for persons in their positions to take to ensure a safe and secure carriage (regulation 11(1)); i require a competent person to be in attendance with the vehicle whenever the driver is not present except in specified circumstances or in respect of certain types of explosives (regulation 11(2) to (4) and Schedule 1); j require the operator and driver to follow a route agreed with the police if more than 5 tonnes of explosives in Division 1.1 are being carried (regulation 11(5)); k require the police, fire brigade, operator of the vehicle and Health and Safety Executive to be informed in the event of an accident, and require proper precautions to be taken in such an event (regulation 12); l require the carriage to be completed within a reasonable length of time and require the explosives to be unloaded from the vehicle as soon as is reasonably practicable after it arrives at its destination (regulation 13); m require the explosives to be delivered only to the consignee or his agent, or to a place specified in the Regulations where a person accepts custody of them for onward despatch (regulation 13); n require that a trailer, semi-trailer or freight container containing explosives is not detached from the vehicle except in places specified in the Regulations or in an emergency (regulation 13); o impose requirements with respect to the training of the driver and any attendant of the vehicle, subject to exceptions for specified types and quantities of explosives (regulation 14); p impose a minimum age limit of 18 for persons engaged in the carriage of explosives subject to exceptions for specified types and quantities of explosives (regulation 15). The requirements mentioned in sub-paragraphs (c) to (p) above do not apply to the carriage of explosives in vehicles used to carry passengers for hire or reward. Certain requirements of the Regulations do not apply to carriage for the purposes of ordnance disposal, vehicles excepted from excise duty, vehicles only used on roads when passing between private premises in the immediate vicinity, vehicles engaged in specified international journeys, and carriage by HM Forces and visiting forces. The Regulations do not apply to any explosive nuclear device or any component thereof (regulation 3). The Regulations provide for their enforcement by the Health and Safety Executive (regulation 16) and enable the Executive and (in the case of military explosives) the Secretary of State for Defence to grant certificates of exemption (regulation 17). The Regulations repeal Section 97(5) of the Explosives Act 1875, repeal paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 to the Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1947, revoke Order of the Secretary of State No. 11 (except byelaw 3) to the extent it relates to conveyance by road, and revoke the Conveyance by Road of Military Explosives Regulations 1977. The Regulations also make a consequential amendment to Section 5 of the 1875 Act (regulations 18 and 19). Copies of relevant documents may be obtained as follows:– a Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID) [ISBN 0 11 550814 7], from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; b the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code [Volumes I to IV ISBN 92 801 1055 1, Volume V ISBN 92 801 1125 6], from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR; c the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (1989–90 English language edition), from either Freight Merchandising Services, c/o Vidap Freight Services Ltd., Green Lane, Hounslow, Middlesex TW4 6DD or IAL – International Aeradio Plc, Aeradio House, Hayes Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5NJ.

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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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