UK Offence Report

Offences and Penalties

regulation 11(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Pilot Boats) Regulations 1991

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 A competent harbour authority and the owner of the boat, and also the master of the boat, who contravene regulation 1O(a), (b), (c) or (d) of these Regulations shall each be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an competent harbour authority
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 an competent harbour authority 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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

3 In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to show that he used all due diligence to ensure compliance with the Regulations.

What would breach regulation 11(2)?

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 Merchant Shipping (Pilot Boats) Regulations 1991, 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
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 4 value when the instrument came into force (1991-04-02); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean £2500.

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 Merchant Shipping (Small Workboats and Pilot Boats) Regulations 1998 (revoked)
Revoked on
3 August 1998
Made
14 January 1991
In force from
2 April 1991
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 together with the related “Code of Practice for the Construction, Survey and Certification of Pilot Boats” referred to in the Regulations specify standards of construction for pilot boats which are intended to ensure the safe working of the boats within their designated areas of operation. Such boats are to be provided with efficient machinery and with equipment for life saving, electrical lighting, fire fighting, rescue and retrieval and first aid. Navigational and signalling equipment is to be provided and up to date charts for the area of operation are to be carried. VHF radio equipment must also be provided (regulation 3). The Regulations impose also the requirement that every pilot boat shall be normally manned by at least two crew members to assist the pilot when boarding and landing (regulation 4). The Regulations provide for the survey and certification of pilot boats. New pilot boats are to be surveyed before entering service and existing pilot boats within eighteen months of the coming into force of the Regulations. On successful completion of an initial survey the Certifying Authority will grant a Pilot Boat Certificate valid for a period of four years (regulation 7). There is also provision for an intermediate survey (regulation 6). Surveys are in all cases to be carried out by marine surveyors nominated by the Secretary of State. In the event of corrective action needing to be taken following survey the surveyor may specify a period in which that action shall be taken. If at the end of that period the action has not been taken the Secretary of State may suspend the validity of the Pilot Boat Certificate (regulation 9). The Regulations provide for offences and penalties in connection with breaches of the Regulations (regulation 11). The Code of Practice is obtainable from HMSO and Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from the Department of Transport Library, Sunley House, 90 High Holborn, London WCIV 6LP and from any Department of Transport Marine Office.

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