UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulations 1994

the instrument as a whole of The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulations 1994.

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 Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulations 1996
Revoked on
1 September 1996
Made
9 March 1994
In force from
1 April 1994
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 and prohibitions in relation to the carriage of dangerous goods by rail in freight containers, packages, tank containers, tank wagons or wagons (as defined in regulation 1). The Regulations— a prohibit a train operator or operator of any freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon from causing or permitting dangerous goods to be carried therein unless specified requirements relating to the design, construction, suitability and maintenance thereof have been complied with (regulation 3); b prohibit a train operator or operator of any tank container or tank wagon from causing or permitting dangerous goods to be carried therein— i unless specified requirements relating to the preparation and issue of specified documents concerning the examination, testing, and suitability of the tank container or tank wagon have been complied with, ii if the tank container or tank wagon or any fittings attached thereto are in a state of disrepair, except in specified circumstances (regulation 4); c prohibit an operator of a tank container or a tank wagon from causing or permitting dangerous goods to be carried therein unless he certifies to the train operator on whose train the dangerous goods are to be carried that he has complied with regulation 4 (regulation 5); d impose requirements with respect to the keeping of the documents referred to in regulation 4 (regulation 6); e require specified information to be received by— i the relevant operator of a freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon, unless the goods are intended for carriage by some other means, ii the relevant train operator, and iii the relevant infrastructure controller (regulation 7); f prohibit a train operator from causing or permitting to be carried any dangerous goods (other than radioactive material) to which specified Regulations apply unless they have been classified, packaged and labelled in accordance with those Regulations (regulation 8); g require— i that no tank or compartment in the tank container or tank wagon is filled beyond its safe level (regulation 9), and ii that all openings, valves and caps are securely closed before any journey on the railway is commenced (regulation 10); h prohibit a train operator from causing or permitting to be carried dangerous goods unless they are adequately segregated from other dangerous goods carried with them (regulation 11); i require all reasonable steps to be taken to ensure that hazards to the health or safety of any person are not created and unauthorised access to the goods is prevented (regulation 12); j require all necessary precautions to be taken to prevent fire, explosion, and leakage of the goods from a freight container, package, tank container, tank wagon or wagon (regulation 13); k require all necessary precautions to be taken to ensure that when dangerous goods are loaded onto or into a freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon they will not, in conjunction with any product remaining therein, significantly increase the existing risk to the health or safety of any person (regulation 14); l prohibit a train operator from causing or permitting to be carried any package containing dangerous goods unless that package is suitable for the purpose and has been adequately maintained (regulation 15); m require all necessary precautions to be taken during the marshalling or formation of a train to prevent the creation of hazards to the health or safety of any person (regulation 16); n i prohibit an operator of a freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon from causing or permitting dangerous goods to be carried therein unless the requirements of specified regulations have been complied with (regulation 17(1)), and ii require specified labels to be kept clean and free from obstruction whilst the container or wagon is being used and to be removed or covered when not being used (regulation 17(2)); o require, where appropriate— i specified persons to receive adequate information, instruction and training concerning their responsibilities (regulation 18(1) and (3)), and ii a record of any training received to be kept and a copy to be made available to the person who has received the training (regulation 18(2) and (4)); p impose prohibitions and restrictions in relation to the carriage of explosives (regulation 19 and the Schedule); q require safety systems and procedures to be drawn up and, where appropriate, given effect to in order to deal with any emergency on a train, at a railway facility or on a railway track (regulation 20); r prohibit the carriage of radioactive material unless specified requirements have been complied with and provide for a specified defence for contravention of the prohibition (regulation 21); s provide for a defence for a contravention of the Regulations (with the exception of regulation 21) (regulation 22); t provide for the granting of exemptions from the Regulations by the Health and Safety Executive (regulation 23). The approved carriage list, the current edition of the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (“ADR”) [ISBN 0 11 551114 8] and the current edition of the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (“RID”) [ISBN 0 11 551122 9] may be obtained from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; the current edition of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code [Volumes I to IV 92 8011243 0, Volume V 92 8011248 1] may be obtained from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR and the current edition of the List of Dangerous Goods and Conditions of Acceptance by Rail on Freight Services and Parcels Services [B. R.22426] may be obtained from the Director of Operational Standards, British Railways Board, Macmillan House, Paddington Station, London W2 IFT.

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 0.70.

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