UK Offence Report

1 Any person who— a trespasses on any part of the railway; or b trespasses on any land of the undertaker in…

paragraph 39(1) of SCHEDULE 1 of The Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 2006

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 any part of the railway; 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 39(1) of SCHEDULE 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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 2006.

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.

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
18 July 2006
In force from
8 August 2006
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 prescribes model clauses for inclusion in orders made under section 1 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (“the Act”), which authorise the construction and operation of certain systems of transport, and ancillary matters. The use of the prescribed clauses is not mandatory: they may be omitted entirely from orders if not appropriate or may be adapted to meet special requirements. Schedule 1 sets out model clauses relating to railways, which term is given a wide definition by the Act. The term includes mainline and underground railways and also mountain railways, mineral lines, pier lines, funiculars and railways operated by bodies concerned with the preservation of railway heritage. Schedule 2 sets out model clauses relating to tramways, which is also defined by the Act. The subjects covered by the model clauses are listed in the table of arrangement at the head of each Schedule. This Order revokes the Transport and Works (Model Clauses for Railways and Tramways) Order 1992 (S.I. 1992/3270). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been prepared in connection with this Order because it will have no impact on the costs of business.

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.

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