UK Offence Report

Stopping officers: offences

regulation 66C(2) of The Road Vehicles (Powers to Stop) Regulations 2011

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

2 A person commits an offence if the person resists or wilfully obstructs

a stopping officer who is exercising the powers of

a stopping officer.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (wilfully).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: wilfully.

What would breach regulation 66C(2)?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Road Vehicles (Powers to Stop) Regulations 2011.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. 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
29 March 2011
In force from
30 March 2011
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 amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 to provide the Secretary of State with a power to appoint “stopping officers” in Great Britain. They also make amendments to provide stopping officers with powers to stop certain commercial vehicles on roads for the purposes of specific checks by vehicle examiners and other authorised persons. Regulations 9 and 12 also add to the existing powers of vehicle examiners appointed in Northern Ireland aligning their powers to stop commercial vehicles on roads with those of stopping officers in Great Britain. When appointing stopping officers, the Secretary of State must be satisfied that the person to be appointed is suitable, capable and adequately trained to exercise the powers for which that person is being appointed. Furthermore, stopping officers must act under the general directions of the Secretary of State and are only permitted to exercise their powers whilst wearing approved uniforms. These Regulations create offences of impersonating and wilfully obstructing stopping officers and, in Northern Ireland, create an offence of impersonating a vehicle examiner. These Regulations provide stopping officers with powers to stop for the following purposes: Vehicle roadworthiness inspections by authorised examiners under section 67 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (regulation 2(3)); Vehicle weight checking by authorised persons under section 78 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (regulation 2(4)); Inspection of documents, records and recording equipment by officers under Part 6 (Drivers’ Hours) of the Transport Act 1968 (regulation 4); Checks by vehicle examiners and other authorised persons in relation to section 12(1) (the obligation to hold a public service vehicle operator’s licence) or section 18(1) (the duty to exhibit an operator’s disc) of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 (regulation 5); Checks by vehicle examiners and other authorised persons in relation to section 2(1) (the obligation to hold a goods vehicle operator’s licence) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 (regulation 6); Checks by authorised inspecting officers in relation to regulation 3 (use of a public service vehicle without Community licence) and regulation 7 (failure to comply with conditions governing the use of Community licence) of the Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 1999 (regulation 10); Inspection of the documents referred to in regulation 7 (production of Community licence and control document) of the Road Transport (Passenger Vehicles Cabotage) Regulations 1999 by authorised inspecting officers (regulation 11); and they provide stopping officers, and vehicle examiners appointed in Northern Ireland, with powers to stop for the following purposes: Checks by authorised inspecting officers in relation to regulation 3 (use of a goods vehicle without Community authorisation) and regulation 7 (failure to comply with conditions governing the use of Community authorisation) of the Goods Vehicles (Community Authorisations) Regulations 1992 (regulation 9); Checks by vehicle examiners in relation to the requirement to carry evidence of CPC or of training exemption in the Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007 (regulation 12). An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the public sector and the voluntary sector is available from the Freight, Insurance and Licensing Division of the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR. A copy may be obtained from the Department for Transport website (www.dft.gov.uk). A copy of the impact assessment has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. The impact assessment is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 “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