Trespass on railway

article 34(1) of The Welsh Highland Railway Order 1999

Status not determined
Strict liability
Summary only
Housing, planning, heritage and land

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

1 Any person who—
a trespasses on the railway, except where the railway is in
a highway; or
b trespasses on any land of the undertaker in dangerous proximity to the railway or to any electrical or other apparatus used for or in connection with the operation of the railway; shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to
a fine not exceeding level
3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: breaching the provision
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

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

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

What would breach article 34(1)?

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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Welsh Highland Railway Order 1999.

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.

Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
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: 30 June 1999
In force from: 21 July 1999
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 Order authorises The Festiniog Railway Company to construct works and compulsorily to acquire land for the purpose of rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway from Dinas to Porthmadog in the County of Gwynedd. It includes level crossings of public highways at six places. Provision is made for the stopping up and diversion of footpaths and a bridleway. It also provides for the vesting in the Gwynedd Council of exchange land for public open space purposes. Copies of the plans, the sections and the book of reference are available for inspection free of charge during working hours at— Messrs. Sharpe Pritchard, Elizabeth House, Fulwood Place, London WC1V 6HG; and The Festiniog Railway Company, Harbour Station, Porthmadog, Gwynedd LL49 9NF.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

Power to operate and use railwaysarticle 28(5)
Maintenance of approved works etcarticle 29(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 Welsh Highland Railway Order 1999 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Housing, planning, heritage and landOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1999