UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Transport Act 1968

regulation 2(3) of The Community Drivers’ Hours Offences (Enforcement) Regulations 2018

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 In section 98(4) (written records: offence), for the words from “Any person who” to “summary conviction”, substitute—

4 Any person who—

a contravenes any regulations made under this section, or

b contravenes, whether in the United Kingdom, another member State or

a contracting third country, any requirement as to books, records or documents of the applicable Community rules, shall be liable on summary conviction .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 2(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Community Drivers’ Hours Offences (Enforcement) Regulations 2018, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
10 January 2018
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W+S

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.

Part 6 of the Transport Act 1968 provides offences and penalties for infringements of Regulation (EC) No. 561/2006 (OJ No L 102, 11.4.2006, p. 1) and the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews and Vehicles engaged in International Transport of 1st July 1979 (as amended) which both prescribe rules about periods of driving, rests and breaks for drivers of specified vehicles undertaking international carriage of goods and passengers. Sections 54, 75 and 90A of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 provide for the issue by vehicle examiners or constables (“enforcement officers”) of fixed penalty notices, conditional offers and financial penalty deposit requirements in respect of certain offences. These sections provide that, if certain conditions are met, an enforcement officer may issue, for certain offences committed in England and Wales, fixed penalty notices, conditional offers and financial penalty deposit requirements and, for certain offences committed in Scotland, conditional offers and financial penalty deposit requirements. Regulation 2 amends sections 96(11A) and 98(4) of the Transport Act 1968 to confirm that such enforcement action may be taken in Great Britain for breaches of any of the applicable Community rules which constitute offences under sections 96(11A) and 98(4) committed in other member States or in a contracting third country. Regulations 3, 4 and 7 of these Regulations amend, respectively, sections 54, 75 and 90A of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to provide for fixed penalties notices, conditional offers and financial penalty deposit requirements to be issued by enforcement officers in respect of four specified offences (referred to in these Regulations as Community drivers’ hours offences) when committed on any occasion up to 28 days prior to day of the occasion when the enforcement officer has reason to suspect that such an offence has been committed. Regulation 4 amends section 75 in relation to Scotland only. Regulations 9 and 10 make consequential amendments. Regulation 11 makes transitional provision preventing fixed penalty notices, conditional offers and financial penalty deposit requirements being issued by enforcement officers for Community drivers’ hours offences committed before the coming into force of these Regulations but detected by enforcement officers on a date after the Regulations come into force. A consolidated version of the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport including relevant amendments can be obtained from Helen Grech at the Department for Transport, Great Minister House, 33 Horseferry Road, London W1P 4DR. A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced as the impact on the private or voluntary sectors is minimal. An Explanatory Memorandum is available alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction
Confidence
0.72 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