UK Offence Report

Duties of an authorised person and other members of the contractor’s staff

regulation 19(5)(a) of The Fines Collection Regulations 2004 (revoked)

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

a that the vehicle has been clamped and that it is an offence under paragraph

49 of Schedule

5 to remove or attempt to remove the clamp or the notice;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 19(5)(a)?

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 Fines Collection Regulations 2004.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
27 January 2004
In force from
Not determined
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 implement Schedule 5 (collection of fines) to the Courts Act 2003 (“Schedule 5”) to take account of the coming into force of the Collection of Fines (Pilot Schemes) Order 2004 (No. 175) which establishes schemes for the piloting of different provisions of that Schedule. Part II applies with modifications the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 (c. 32), the Fines (Deductions from Income Support) Regulations 1992 (No. 2182) and certain provisions of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43) to give effect to Schedule 5. The substituted Part I of Schedule 3 to the 1971 Act introduces tables for the calculation of the amounts to be deducted under attachments of earnings orders (regulation 4(e)). Provision is made for the collection of fines in the case of a change of residence by the person liable to pay the fine (regulation 6). Part III contains provisions implementing Schedule 5. Regulation 7 specifies the amount of the increase imposed on a fine under paragraph 27 or 33 of Schedule 5. A notice of increase and a further steps notice under Schedule 5 may be delivered by hand or by being sent by post (regulation 8). Section 87 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 which enables a fine to be enforced as if it were imposed by a judgment or order of the High Court or the county court is specified as another step which may be taken under Schedule 5 as listed in paragraph 38 (1) of that Schedule (regulation 9). A warrant of distress issued under Schedule 5 is to be executed as if it had been issued by a justice of the peace and section 78 concerning a defect in a distress warrant or irregularity in its execution and the provisions concerning execution of distress warrants of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 are applied (regulation 10). A fines officer may issue a summons requiring P to attend a magistrates' court to which he has referred P’s case under Schedule 5 (regulation 11). Regulation 12 applies for the purposes of references of cases to the court by the fines officer, or appeals to the court, under Schedule 5 the existing powers of the magistrates' courts in respect of fines as modified by the regulation. Part IV provides for the clamping of vehicles under Schedule 5 for default in the payment of fines, and the storage and sale of clamped vehicles. Regulation 13 specifies conditions to be met before a clamping order is made, regulation 14 specifies the matters to be included in a clamping order and regulation 15 provides for the procedure to be followed on the making of the order. Regulation 16 specifies the places where vehicles may be clamped and regulation 17 deals with defects in clamping orders or irregularities in their execution. The clamping order is to be executed by a clamping contractor under a contract with the Lord Chancellor or a justices' chief executive (definition of “clamping contractor” in regulation 1(5)). The matters to be included in a clamping contract are specified in regulation 18. The duties of the persons authorised by the contractor to carry out, or direct and supervise the carrying out of, clamping, release from clamping, removal to and release from storage, of vehicles on behalf of the contractor and the duties of other members of the contractor’s staff are laid down in regulation 19 and the duties of the contractor in regulation 20. Provision for the payment of the fine and any charges due and the release of the vehicle is in regulation 21. Regulation 22 provides the circumstances in which a vehicle which has been clamped must be removed to storage and conditions for the storage of vehicles which have been clamped are specified in regulation 23. Provision is made for the ultimate sale of clamped vehicles if, after the expiry of the period of 3 months from the date the vehicle was clamped, a magistrates' court so orders under paragraph 41 of Schedule 5 (regulation 24). Regulations 25 and 26 contain the procedure for complaints and claims for compensation concerning the content, or making, or the execution, of clamping orders.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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