PART IICHARGES FOR BUS LANE CONTRAVENTIONS
Charges
3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and regulation 4, an approved local authority may impose a charge in respect of a contravention relating to any road within their area, except a road which is a special road in accordance with section 7 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984(1).
(2) A charge may be imposed only on the basis of a record produced by an approved device.
Level of charges
4.—(1) An approved local authority must not impose a charge in accordance with these Regulations unless—
(a)it has first set the rate of charge that is to apply within its area;
(b)the Scottish Ministers have approved those rates; and
(c)it has published in at least one local newspaper circulating in its area a notice specifying—
(i)the circumstances in which a charge may be imposed;
(ii)the rate of the charge; and
(iii)the date, being a day which falls after the end of the period of 15 days beginning with the day on which the notice is published, on which the authority will start to impose charges at that level,
and no charge is to be imposed before the date so specified.
(2) Each approved local authority is to make available, at all reasonable times, free of charge and in a form which is readily accessible to any member of the public, information about the level of the charge for the time being in force in its area.
(3) In the circumstances described in regulation 8(5)(f), an authority must accept a sum equivalent to one half of the rate of charge approved by the Scottish Ministers, in full payment of a charge.
(4) In the circumstances described in regulation 8(5)(k), an authority may increase a charge to a sum equivalent to one and a half times the rate of charge approved by the Scottish Ministers.
Liability of registered keeper for charges
5. A charge is to be paid by the registered keeper of the relevant vehicle unless regulation 6 applies.
Liability of persons other than the registered keeper for charges
6.—(1) A charge is to be paid—
(a)where the relevant vehicle is not registered under the 1994 Act, by the person by whom the relevant vehicle is kept at the time of the contravention;
(b)where the relevant vehicle—
(i)was at the time of the contravention the subject of a hiring agreement; and
(ii)the person hiring it, or an individual authorised to sign on that person’s behalf, has signed a statement of liability acknowledging that person’s liability in respect of any charge incurred during the currency of that hiring agreement,
by the person who has hired the vehicle under that hiring agreement;
(c)where—
(i)the relevant vehicle is kept by a vehicle trader; and
(ii)at the time of the contravention, a person other than the vehicle trader is the registered keeper of the relevant vehicle,
by the vehicle trader;
(d)where the registered keeper has sold or transferred the relevant vehicle before the time of the contravention, by the person by whom the relevant vehicle is kept at the time of the contravention.
(2) In this regulation—
“hiring agreement” means an agreement for the hire of a vehicle—
under the terms of which the vehicle is let to the hirer for a fixed period of any duration (whether or not that period is capable of extension by agreement between the parties or otherwise);
which contains such particulars as may for the time being be prescribed for the purpose of section 66 (hired vehicles) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988(2); and
which is not a hire purchase agreement within the meaning of the Consumer Credit Act 1974(3); and
“vehicle trader” has the same meaning as in regulation 20(6) (change of keeper: general provisions) of the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002(4).
Circumstances in which a charge need not be paid or is to be refunded
7.—(1) A charge is not payable under these Regulations where—
(a)the conduct constituting the contravention is the subject of criminal proceedings; or
(b)a fixed penalty notice, as defined by section 52 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988(5), has been given in respect of that conduct.
(2) Where, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1)—
(a)a charge has been paid in respect of a contravention; and
(b)the circumstances are as mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) or (b),
the approved local authority must, as soon as reasonably practicable after those circumstances come to their notice, refund the amount of the charge.
1984 c.54. Section 7 was amended by the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 3), Schedule 7, paragraph 14 and the Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 8), Schedule 2, paragraph 2 and Schedule 3.
1974 c.39; the definition of “hire purchase agreement” is in section 189(1).
S.I. 2002/2742, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.
Section 52 was amended by the Access to Justice Act 1999 (c.22), Schedule 13, paragraph 147, and by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2004 (c.14), Schedule 1, Part 14.