UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Railway Safety Regulations 1999

the instrument as a whole of The Railway Safety Regulations 1999

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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Railway Safety Regulations 1999.

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
Status not determined
Made
30 July 1999
In force from
30 January 2000
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations contain provisions with respect to the use of a train protection system, Mark I rolling stock and rolling stock with hinged doors. The Regulations apply to a railway as defined in regulation 2(1) and the Schedule. The Regulations prohibit the operation of a train on a railway unless a train protection system (as defined in regulation 2(1)) is in service for that train and railway (regulation 3(1)). The Regulation provides that until 1st January 2004 it is sufficient compliance with the prohibition referred to above if a programme approved by the Health and Safety Executive for the bringing into service of a train protection system is being implemented (regulation 3(2)). Specified railways are excluded from the prohibition referred to above if there is in service other equipment specified in the regulation (regulation 3(3)). The Regulations contain specified defences in respect of equipment which has failed or been taken out of service because of a fault (regulation 3(4) and (5)). The Regulations prohibit the operation of Mark I rolling stock (as defined in regulation 2(1)), except that until 1st January 2005 the prohibition does not apply to any such stock which has been modified in a specified manner (regulation 4(1) and (3)). Specified railways are excluded from the prohibition of Mark I rolling stock (regulation 4(2)). The Regulations prohibit the operation of rolling stock with hinged doors for use by passengers, except rolling stock exclusively operated other than for the carriage of fare paying passengers (regulation 5). The Regulations empower the Health and Safety Executive to grant exemptions from the Regulations (regulation 6). The Regulations amend the Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995. The effect of the amendment is to remove an exception from the requirement to notify and report specified incidents of signals passed without authority. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Railways Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Zone 3/29 Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.

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.

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 0.67.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.67 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