UK Offence Report

Obstruction of construction of tramway

paragraph 41 of SCHEDULE 2 of The Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 1992

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

41 Any person who, without reasonable excuse, obstructs another person from constructing the authorised tramway or any other authorised work under the powers conferred by this Order shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a person
Conduct
obstructing an official exercising a power
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 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.

“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

41 Any person who, without reasonable excuse, obstructs another person from constructing the authorised tramway or any other authorised work under the powers conferred by this Order shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

What would breach paragraph 41 of SCHEDULE 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. On these words an offence is committed where a person obstructs another person from constructing the authorised tramway or any other authorised work under the powers conferred by this Order.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 1992.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 2006
Revoked on
8 August 2006
Made
18 December 1992
In force from
15 January 1993
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order prescribes model clauses for inclusion in orders made under section 1 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (“the Act”). These orders authorise the construction and operation of certain systems of transport, and ancillary matters. The use of the prescribed clauses is not mandatory: they may be omitted entirely from orders if not appropriate or may be adapted to meet special requirements. Schedule 1 sets out model clauses relating to railways, which term is widely defined in the Act. The term includes mainline and underground railways and also mountain railways, mineral lines, pier lines, funiculars and railways operated by bodies concerned with the preservation of the railway heritage. Schedule 2 sets out model clauses relating to tramways, which term is also defined in the Act. The term includes light rail and other systems which are predominantly street-running. The subjects covered by the model clauses are listed in the table of arrangement at the head of each Schedule.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.92.

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