Divisional Courts

DOI10.1177/002201838004400203
Date01 May 1980
Published date01 May 1980
Subject MatterArticle
Divisional Courts
Comments
on
Cases
SPOT CHECKS
Beard v. Wood
The Defendant, Mr. Wood, was convicted by the Justices
of
an offence
under section 159
of
the Road Traffic Act 1972. Section 159 provides:
"A person driving a motor vehicle on a road
...
shall stop the same
on being so required by a constable in uniform, and if he fails to do
so he shall be guilty
of
an offence".
On the day in question the Defendant, who was driving a lorry, was
required to stop by a constable, who was in uniform. The Defendant
did not stop but drove slowly past the constable.
The question in this case (The Times Feburary 6th 1980) was
whether or not it was a defence to this charge that the constable was
not acting in execution of his duty because no offence had been
committed. The constable's purpose in stopping the vehicle was to
satisfy himself that the Defendant had valid documents for the use
of
the vehicle and the vehicle was in such condition as to be capable
of
being lawfully used on the road.
It
was conceded that the constable had
no reason to suspect that the Defendant did not have valid documents
or that the vehicle was not in good and lawful condition.
The Justices dismissed the case on a submission
of
no case to answer.
They decided that arequirement to stop under section 159 could only
be made by a constable acting under his powers and duties at common
law. Therefore they concluded that because the constable had no
reason to believe that an offence had been committed he had no power
to stop the vehicle.
The Divisional Court had to consider whether on the plain words
of
the section that was correct. There is nothing in section 159 which
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