UK Offence Report

17 The holder of a licence who contravenes, or fails to comply without reasonable excuse, with, any…

regulation 17 of The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Heavy Goods and Public Service Vehicles) Regulations 1990

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

17 The holder of a licence who contravenes, or fails to comply without reasonable excuse, with, any provision of regulation 3, 4, 5, 6(1) and (2), 8 or 13 shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 holder
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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 holder 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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

The holder of a licence who contravenes, or fails to comply without reasonable excuse, with, any provision of regulation 3, 4, 5, 6(1) and (2), 8 or 13 shall be guilty of an offence.

What would breach regulation 17?

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 holder contravenes, or fails to comply without reasonable excuse, with, any provision of regulation 3, 4, 5, 6(1) and (2), 8 or 13.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Heavy Goods and Public Service Vehicles) Regulations 1990, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
Status not determined
Made
14 December 1990
In force from
1 April 1991
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.

Sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 brought into force by the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 (Commencement No. 4) Order 1990 (No. 2610 (c. 70)) on 1st April 1991 abolish the requirement for special licences for drivers of lorries and buses as heavy goods vehicles under Part IV of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and public service vehicles under section 22 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 (c. 14) as an addition to the requirement for ordinary driving licences under Part III of the 1988 Act. They replace this by a unified system of licensing of such vehicles under Part III of the 1988 Act as large goods vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles supplemented by a new Part IV of the 1988 Act set out in Schedule 2 to the 1989 Act. With the repeal of the said Part IV and sections 22 to 23A of the 1981 Act and the other provisions of that Act relating to the licensing of drivers of public service vehicles by section 16 of, and Schedule 6 to, the 1989 Act (brought into force by that Order on that date) the Heavy Goods Vehicles (Drivers' Licences) Regulations 1977 (No. 1309) as amended (except regulation 26 concerning service personnel which is revoked by the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Large Goods and Passenger-Carrying Vehicles) Regulations 1990 (No. 2612)) and the Public Service Vehicles (Drivers' Licences) Regulations 1985 (No. 214) as amended(except the provisions for badges to be worn by drivers of public service vehicles which are also revoked by the 1990 Regulations) cease to have effect. Section 1(2) of the 1989 Act, also brought into force by the above-mentioned order on 1st April 1991 provides for the continued validity of existing heavy goods vehicle and public service vehicle licences if the holder has a licence under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52). Section 1(6) of, and Schedule 1 to, the 1989 Act, also brought into force by the Order on that date, lay down the requirements which will govern the holding of such licences until they expire or are revoked or surrendered. These Regulations are made under powers conferred by section 1 of the 1989 Act and that Schedule to lay down requirements for the holding of such licences, their custody and production, revocation and surrender and for disqualification. The principal changes made as compared with the aforementioned Regulations of 1977 and 1985 are as follows:— a Licence holders are required to notify the Secretary of State of any change in their name or address rather than the traffic commissioners (regulation 3). b New physical disabilities are prescribed which would require refusal or revocation of a licence. These concern deficient eyesight and diabetes requiring insulin treatment but exemptions are included for drivers who hold licences on 1st January 1983 and continue to hold them on 1st April 1991, for monocular drivers and for diabetics on insulin where the traffic commissioners have been notified of their condition before 1st January 1991 (regulation 7(1)). c A new design of L plate for holders of provisional licences to drive heavy goods vehicles is introduced (regulation 11(2) and 12(2) and Schedule 2).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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