UK Offence Report

Offences against accredited persons

regulation 9(1) of The Railway Safety Accreditation Scheme Regulations 2004

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 assaults— a an accredited person in the execution of his duty; or b a person assisting an accredited person in the execution of his duty, is guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 9(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.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person assaults— a an accredited person in the execution of his duty; or b a person assisting an accredited person in the execution of his duty.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Railway Safety Accreditation Scheme Regulations 2004.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2004-04-26); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
24 March 2004
In force from
26 April 2004
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, which are made under powers contained in the Police Reform Act 2002 (“the 2002 Act”), empower the chief constable of the British Transport Police Force (“the Police Force”) to establish and maintain a railway safety accreditation scheme (“scheme”) in England and Wales. The scheme is modelled on the community safety accreditation schemes which, under section 40 of the 2002 Act, chief officers of Home Office police forces are permitted to establish and maintain. The purpose of the scheme is to accredit suitably skilled and trained non-police employees and grant them specific powers, which can be exercised within the jurisdiction of the Police Force. The scheme differs from community safety accreditation schemes for Home Office police forces only where this is necessary to meet the specific needs of the railways and the Police Force. Regulation 3 permits the chief constable to establish and maintain a scheme for the purposes of contributing to railway safety and security, and assisting the Police Force in combating crime and disorder, public nuisance and other forms of anti-social behaviour. Regulations 4 to 6 set out the various requirements associated with the scheme including consultation, information to be included in any railways policing plan, and the arrangements to be made with appropriate employers. Regulation 7 permits the chief constable to grant an accreditation to certain persons, sets out the procedure for granting an accreditation, and specifies the circumstances where such an accreditation shall cease to have effect. Regulation 8 sets out the supplementary provisions, including the requirements with regard to the identification of accredited persons, and that an accreditation may be modified or withdrawn. Regulation 9 sets out the various offences relating to assaulting, obstructing or impersonating accredited persons, and the maximum penalties for such offences. The Schedule to the Regulations sets out the powers that may be made available to an accredited person, including in particular the powers of a constable in uniform and of an authorised constable to give fixed penalty notices for the offences contained in sections 55 and 56 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949 of trespassing on railways and throwing stones at trains or other things on the railway.

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 0.92.

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