Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2001/2313 |
| Year | 2001 |
2001 No. 2313
LONDON GOVERNMENT
ROAD TRAFFIC
The Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001
Made 26th June 2001
Laid before Parliament 27th June 2001
Coming into force 30th July 2001
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by paragraphs 12(3), 28 and 30 of Schedule 23 to the Greater London Authority Act 19991and by section 420(1) of that Act, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 30th July 2001.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1999 Act” means the Greater London Authority Act 1999;
“adjudicator” means a road user charging adjudicator appointed in accordance with regulation 3;
“Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations” means the Road User Charging (Charges and Penalty Charges) (London) Regulations 20012;
“hiring agreement” has the same meaning as in section 66 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 19883;
“penalty charge notice” has the meaning given in regulation 12;
“person liable” in relation to a vehicle means the registered keeper of that vehicle or the person who is liable, in accordance with the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations, to pay a charge or penalty charge imposed by a charging scheme;
“relevant person” in Part III has the meaning given in regulation 9;
“vehicle” means a motor vehicle; and
“vehicle-hire firm” has the same meaning as in section 66 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
(2) In determining for the purposes of any provision of these Regulations whether a charge or penalty charge has been paid before the end of a particular period, it shall be taken to be paid when it is received by the charging authority.
PART II
ADJUDICATORS
Appointment of adjudicators
3.—(1) The Lord Chancellor shall appoint persons to act as road user charging adjudicators for the purposes of these Regulations.
(2) To be qualified for appointment as an adjudicator, a person must have a five year general qualification (within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 19904).
(3) Each adjudicator shall be appointed for such period as the Lord Chancellor may specify.
(4) Each adjudicator shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of his appointment.
Administrative support and defrayal of expenses
4.—(1) The Authority shall provide, or make arrangements for the provision of, accommodation and administrative staff and facilities for adjudicators and determine the places where they are to sit.
(2) The expenses incurred by the Authority under paragraph (1) and on remunerating adjudicators shall be defrayed—
(a)
(a) in a year in which only one charging scheme is for the time being in force in Greater London by the charging authority for that scheme;
(b)
(b) where two or more charging schemes are in force, by the charging authorities for those schemes in such proportions as they may agree or, in default of agreement as may be determined by an arbitrator nominated by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators on the application of any charging authority.
(3) Where the Authority is satisfied that there has been, or is likely to be, a failure on the part of the charging authorities to agree on the proportions in which the expenses recoverable by the Authority are to be defrayed under paragraph (2)(b), it may give the charging authorities such directions as it considers appropriate to require them to refer the matter to arbitration under that paragraph.
Procedure to be followed by adjudicators
5.—(1) The Schedule to these Regulations shall have effect as to the procedure to be followed in relation to proceedings before adjudicators.
(2) Subject to the provisions of that Schedule, an adjudicator may regulate his own procedure.
Evidence produced by a prescribed device
6.—(1) Evidence of a fact relevant to Schedule 23 proceedings may be given by the production of—
(a)
(a) a record produced by a prescribed device, and
(b)
(b) (in the same or another document) a certificate as to the circumstances in which the record was produced signed by a constable or by a person authorised in that behalf by the charging authority who installed the device by means of which the evidence was produced.
(2) In paragraph (1)—
“Schedule 23 proceedings” means proceedings for an offence under Schedule 23 to the 1999 Act or proceedings before an adjudicator in relation to failure to comply with the provisions of a charging scheme; and
“prescribed device” means a camera or other device designed to produce a record—
(a) of the presence of a particular vehicle which is being used or kept on a road in a charging area in respect of which charges are imposed; and
(b) of the date and time at which it is present,
and includes any equipment used in conjunction with the camera or other device for the purpose of producing such a record.
(3) A document purporting to be a record of the kind mentioned in paragraph (1) or to be a certificate signed as mentioned in that paragraph shall be deemed to be such a record, or to be so signed, unless the contrary is proved.
Recovery of amounts payable under an adjudication
7. Any amount which is payable under an adjudication of an adjudicator shall, if a county court so orders, be recoverable by the person to whom the amount is payable, as if it were payable under a county court order.
Reports by adjudicators
8. Each adjudicator shall make an annual report to the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on the discharge of his functions.
PART III
REPRESENTATIONS AND APPEALS IN RELATION TO THE REMOVAL OR IMMOBILISATION OF VEHICLES
Persons to whom Part III applies
9. This part of these Regulations applies to a person (in this Part referred to as a “relevant person”) who—
(a) pays or causes to be paid a penalty charge to secure the release of a vehicle from an immobilisation device in accordance with a charging scheme and the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations;
(b) pays or causes to be paid a penalty charge to recover a vehicle after it has been removed from a road in a charging area in accordance with a charging scheme and the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations;
(c) receives any sum after a vehicle has been sold or destroyed in accordance with a charging scheme and the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations; or
(d) is informed that the proceeds of its disposal do not exceed the amount of the penalty charges payable in respect of the vehicle in accordance with a charging scheme and the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations.
Right to make representations
10.—(1) A relevant person shall, on the happening of an event such as is referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of regulation 9, thereupon be informed by notice in writing, by or on behalf of the charging authority, of his right to make representations under this regulation and his right of appeal under regulation 11.
(2) A relevant person may make representations in writing to the charging authority on one or more of the grounds mentioned in paragraph (3).
(3) The grounds are—
(a)
(a) that in the particular circumstances of the case, the immobilisation, removal or disposal of the vehicle was not authorised by the charging scheme or the Charges and Penalty Charges Regulations;
(b)
(b) in a case where an immobilisation device was fitted to the vehicle or the vehicle was removed on the ground that the vehicle was being used or kept on a road in contravention of the charging scheme, that the vehicle was on that occasion being used or kept on the road by a person who was in control of the vehicle without the consent of the person liable;
(c)
(c) that the penalty charge paid to secure the release or recovery of the vehicle exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case;
(d)
(d) in a case where an immobilisation device was fitted to the vehicle or the vehicle was removed on the ground that a penalty charge previously incurred in relation to it had not been paid, that the relevant person was not the person liable at the time at which that penalty charge had been incurred; or
(e)
(e) that the relevant person is a vehicle-hire firm and—
(i) the vehicle in question was at the time the device was fitted to it or the vehicle was removed hired from that firm under a hiring agreement; and
(ii) the person hiring it had signed a statement of liability acknowledging his liability in respect of any penalty charge incurred in respect of the vehicle during the currency of the hiring agreement.
(4) A charging authority may disregard any representations received by them after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which the relevant person is informed in accordance with paragraph (1) of his right to make representations.
(5) It shall be the duty of a charging authority to whom representations are duly made under this regulation, before the end of the period of 56 days beginning with the day on which they receive the representations—
(a)
(a) to consider them and any supporting evidence which the person making them provides; and
(b)
(b) to serve on that person a notice of their decision as to whether or not they accept that the ground in question has been established.
(6) Where a charging authority serve notice under paragraph (5)(b) that they accept that a ground has been...
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