UK Offence Report

Power to immobilise vehicles

regulation 13(3) of The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022

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 An immobilisation notice must—

a indicate that such

a device has been fixed to the vehicle,

b warn that no attempt should be made to drive the vehicle or otherwise put it in motion until it has been released from that device,

c specify the steps to be taken in order to secure the vehicle’s release, and

d warn that unlawful removal of the immobilisation device is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 13(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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
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
22 January 2022
In force from
31 May 2022
Extent
E

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, together with the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/XXXX), provide for the civil enforcement of— d parking contraventions in England, and e bus lane contraventions, and moving traffic contraventions, in England but outside Greater London. (“relevant road traffic contraventions”) in accordance with Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (“the TMA 2004”). These Regulations apply in England only. Part 1 of these Regulations make introductory provisions. In particular, regulation 4 makes provision about “approved devices”. That regulation specifies a description of device which is an approved device for the purposes of these Regulations The devices, traffic cameras, are approved devices if they are of a type which is certified by the Secretary of State as meeting the requirements set out in the Schedule 1 to these Regulations. Part 2 of these Regulations makes provision about the imposition of penalty charges in respect of relevant road traffic contraventions. Regulation 6 enables penalty charges to be imposed for relevant road traffic contraventions. The penalty charge is payable by the owner of the vehicle, expect in certain cases where a vehicle is hired (regulation 6). Regulation 7, in accordance with section 72(4)(a) of the TMA 2004, prohibits the imposition of a penalty charge— a for a parking contravention except on the basis of a record produced by an approved device or information given by a civil enforcement officer as to conduct observed by that officer; b for a bus lane contravention or moving traffic contravention except on the basis of a record produced by an approved device. Regulation 8 prohibits criminal proceedings and fixed penalty notices under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 in respect of parking contraventions in civil enforcement areas; but an exception is made for pedestrian crossing contraventions. Where such a contravention is the subject of criminal proceedings or of a fixed penalty notice, the issue of a penalty charge notice under the Regulations is prohibited and any penalty charge which has been paid must be refunded. Regulation 9 enables a civil enforcement officer, with reason to believe that a penalty charge is payable for a parking contravention to serve a penalty charge notice. Such notices must be served either by fixing them to the relevant vehicle or giving them to the person appearing to the civil enforcement officer to be the owner of the vehicle. Regulation 10 enables an enforcement authority to serve a penalty charge notice by post. Such notices can be served in respect of bus lane or moving traffic contraventions, or in cases where a civil enforcement officer has been unable to serve a notice under regulation 10. Schedule 2 makes provision about the matters to be included in a notice served under regulation 9 or 10. Regulation 12 makes it an offence to interfere with a penalty charge notice served by its being fixed to a vehicle, except by or under the authority of the owner or person in charge of the vehicle or the enforcement authority. Part 3 makes provision regarding the immobilisation of vehicles. Regulation 13 defines the circumstances in which an immobilisation device may be fixed to a vehicle, requires a notice to be fixed to the vehicle at the time of immobilisation and creates the offences of interfering with the notice or the immobilisation device. Regulation 14 specifies exceptions to the general power to immobilise and regulation 15 specifies the pre-requisites for the release of a vehicle from an immobilisation device. Part 4 provides for the appointment of adjudicators by enforcement authorities and for the functions of those authorities relating to adjudicators to be discharged through joint committees. Enforcement authorities are required by regulation 16 to appoint a sufficient number of adjudicators. Regulation 17 makes provision in respect of expenses. The London authorities are required to discharge these functions through a single joint committee (regulation 18). Regulation 29 requires the non-London enforcement authorities to act through one or more joint committees (with a minimum membership of 3 authorities each). Part 5 makes provision in relation to the enforcement of penalty charges. Regulation 20 provides for the service of a notice to owner by an enforcement authority in respect of an unpaid penalty charge. Regulations 21 to 23 make provision in respect of charge certificates, which may be served in respect of unpaid penalty charges where a notice to owner or penalty charge notice under regulation 11 has been served and the avenues of appeal have not been pursued or have been pursued unsuccessfully. Charge certificates may be enforced through the county court but such orders are to be set aside where the respondent serves a witness statement stating one of the matters mentioned in regulation 23(2). Part 6 makes provision about the setting of levels of charges for contraventions in Greater London (regulation 24) and sets out the charging guidelines for various contraventions and related matters outside Greater London (regulation 26 and Schedule 3). This Part also makes provision about income and expenditure accounts in respect of an enforcement authorities functions in connection with parking contraventions (regulations 25 and 27). Regulations 28 to 31 make corresponding provisions in respect of functions in connection with bus lane and moving traffic contraventions, including provision about surpluses in accounts. Part 7 revokes the 2007 General Regulations, the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Approved Devices) (England) Order 2007 and the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Guidelines on Levels of Charges) (England) Order 2007. That Part also makes related transitional provisions and savings, and consequential amendments to secondary legislation. In addition these Regulations amend Schedule 3 to the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003 and Schedule 7 to the TMA 2004 to amend the list of traffic signs that are subject to civil enforcement under those Acts (regulation 43 and Schedule 5). A de minimis impact assessment has been produced for the instrument and is available at www.legislation.gov.uk. An Explanatory Memorandum has been published alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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