The Road Traffic (Immobilisation, Removal and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

PART 2 Immobilisation of Vehicles

Power to immobilise vehicles

4.—(1) An authorised person or a person acting under the direction of the authorised person may, in relation to any vehicle in a case where these Regulations apply—

(a) fix an immobilisation device to the vehicle; and

(b) move the vehicle, or direct the driver or the person appearing to be in charge of the vehicle to move the vehicle, for the purpose of enabling an immobilisation device to be fitted to it.

(2) On any occasion when an immobilisation device is fixed to a vehicle in accordance with these Regulations, the person fixing the device must also fix to the vehicle a notice (“an immobilisation notice”)—

(a) indicating that the device has been fixed to the vehicle and warning that no attempt should be made to drive it or otherwise put it in motion until it has been released from the device;

(b) specifying the steps to be taken to secure its release, including—

(i) how payment of any release fee should be made; and

(ii) the evidence to be produced to show that the prohibition under which the driving of the vehicle was prohibited has been removed; and

(c) giving any other relevant information, including the consequences of not securing release of the vehicle.

(3) A vehicle to which an immobilisation device has been fixed in accordance with these Regulations—

(a) may only be released from the device by or under the direction of an authorised person; but

(b) subject to sub-paragraph (a), must be released from the device if the first and second requirements specified in paragraphs (4) and (5) are met.

(4) The first requirement is that a charge of £80 in respect of the release is paid in any manner specified in the immobilisation notice.

(5) The second requirement is that, in accordance with instructions specified in the immobilisation notice, there is produced—

(a) in the case of a prohibition issued under Article 84 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (power in certain cases to prohibit driving of foreign vehicles), the notice referred to in Article 85(2) of that Order (provisions supplementary to Article 84) or evidence that that prohibition has expired;

(b) in the case of a prohibition issued under Article 77 or 79 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (power to prohibit driving of unfit or overloaded vehicles), the notice referred to in Article 81(7) of that Order (removal of prohibitions); and

(c) in the case of a prohibition issued under Article 91E of the Road Traffic Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (prohibition on driving on failure to make a payment), evidence that one of the events referred to in Article 91E(4) of that Order has occurred.

(6) An immobilisation notice may not be removed or interfered with except by an authorised person or a person acting on the authority of an authorised person.

(7) In this regulation, the “release fee” means the charge referred to in paragraph (4).

Offence of failing to move vehicle

5.  A person who fails to comply within a reasonable time with a direction under regulation 4(1)(b) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Offence of removing or interfering with immobilisation notice

6.  A person, other than an authorised person or a person acting on the authority of an authorised person, who removes or interferes with an immobilisation notice is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

Offence of removing or interfering with immobilisation device, etc.

7.  A person, other than an authorised person or a person acting under the direction of an authorised person, who removes or attempts to remove an immobilisation device fixed to a vehicle in accordance with these Regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

False or misleading statements, etc.

8.—(1) Where—

(a) a person makes a declaration with a view to securing the release of a vehicle from an immobilisation device purported to have been fixed in accordance with these Regulations;

(b) the declaration is that the prohibition has been removed; and

(c) the declaration is to the persons’s knowledge either false or in any material respect misleading,

that person is guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale; or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine, or both.