UK Offence Report

Powers of aerodrome firefighters in an emergency

article 214A(3) of The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2010 (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

3 A person who without reasonable excuse obstructs or interferes with

a member of the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service at

a licensed aerodrome taking action authorised under this article commits an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

3 A person who without reasonable excuse obstructs or interferes with a member of the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service at a licensed aerodrome taking action authorised under this article commits an offence.

What would breach article 214A(3)?

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 without reasonable excuse obstructs or interferes with a member of the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service at a licensed aerodrome taking action authorised under this article.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2010.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
17 March 2010
In force from
14 April 2010
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 makes the following changes to the Air Navigation Order 2009. Flying training and testing for the grant of a pilot’s licence or the inclusion of an aircraft rating, a night rating or a night qualification in a licence need not be conducted from a licensed aerodrome. Aircraft commanders and aerodrome operators must be satisfied as to the adequacy of an unlicensed aerodrome for the purpose of such flying training and testing before conducting or permitting it. See article 3. Aerodrome firefighters attending an aircraft emergency have powers to take action they believe reasonably necessary including a power of forcible entry to an aircraft. See article 4. The definition of a self-propelled hang-glider is simplified. The criterion of maximum fuel capacity is omitted. See article 5(1). The definition of a State aircraft is changed to reflect a change to the definition in the Basic EASA Regulation. It expressly includes search and rescue, firefighting and coastguard activites and services. See article 5(2). An Impact Assessment has been produced and a copy placed in the Library of both Houses of Parliament for the changes described in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3(1). Copies may be obtained from the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. Alternatively, copies can be obtained from the Department’s website at www.dft.gov.uk. CAP 747 can be purchased from— TSO PO Box 29 Norwich NR3 1GN and is also available on line at www.caa.co.uk/CAP747.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 “commits 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