Fine for obstructing works

article 7 of The Whitehaven Harbour Revision Order 1996

• Status not determined
• Requires proof of a state of mind
• Summary only
• Transport: maritime, aviation, rail and harbours

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

7 Any person who intentionally obstructs any person acting under the authority of the Commissioners in setting out the lines of the authorised works, or who moves or removes any pole, stake, station point or bench mark established for the purpose of such setting out, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale, and shall in addition be liable to repay to the Commissioners as

a debt any expenses incurred by them in making good any damage resulting from such obstructions, moving or removal.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

Requires proof of a state of mind

Burden of proof

No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

What would breach article 7?

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 moves or removes any pole, stake, station point or bench mark established for the purpose of such setting out.
2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Whitehaven Harbour Revision Order 1996.
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

£1,000

Standard scale

Level 3

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.

• Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales

  How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.

• Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016

  Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.

• Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017

  The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.

• General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019

  The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.

• Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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

21 June 1996

In force from

8 July 1996

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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order authorises the Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners to construct works at the harbour, including a new lock between the Outer and Inner Harbour, the extension and strengthening of the harbour walls, and the provision of piled moorings together with pontoon systems in the Inner Harbour, Custom House Dock, South Harbour and Queens Dock. The Order excludes certain commercial vessels from the use of the harbour and restricts the Inner Harbour, Custom House Dock and South Harbour to pleasure craft and certain other vessels. The Order also makes provision in modern terms for the management of the harbour, particularly by conferring on the Commissioners or officers of the Commissioners various powers (for example, general powers for the improvement of the harbour; and power to make byelaws, to give directions to vessels, to remove obstructions, and to grant leases).

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.

• Harbours Bill Hl Lords · 5 March 2003 · Lord Berkeley

  My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. The Bill has the support of the ports industry, which has identified an anomaly in the Harbours Act 1964. The Bill is intended to remove that anomaly. It will essentially achieve a much needed degree of deregulation for the ports industry by applying the same rules to the maritime sector as are applied to other transport modes. The background to the…

• Harbours Bill Hl Lords · 7 January 2004 · Lord Berkeley

  My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. I can tell your Lordships that the Bill has the support of the ports industry, which has identified an anomaly in the Harbours Act 1964. This Bill is intended to remove that anomaly and is essentially a Bill to achieve a much needed degree of deregulation for the ports industry by applying the same rules to the maritime sector as are applied…

Other offences in the same instrument

• Permanent lights on tidal worksarticle 12(2)
• Failure to comply with directionsarticle 28
• General rules for navigationarticle 35
• Vessels adriftarticle 36(1)
• Provision against danger to navigationarticle 9(2)

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

• This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
• The Whitehaven Harbour Revision Order 1996 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Transport: maritime, aviation, rail and harboursOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1996