14Power to provide parking places and to make charges
(1)The Authority may, on any land for the time being vested in or occupied by them, provide and maintain parking places at which vehicles may be left, and may make reasonable charges in respect of any vehicle left at any such parking place or elsewhere on the docks:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to a road within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act, 1972.
(2)If a vehicle is left without the permission of the Authority—
(a)in a parking place provided under subsection (1) of this section for a longer period than twenty-four hours;
(b)in any place within the docks where it is likely to obstruct or interfere with the use of the docks; or
(c)in any part of the docks where the parking of vehicles is prohibited by such traffic signs as may be prescribed or authorised for the purpose by the Secretary of State for the Environment in pursuance of his powers contained in sections 54 and 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1967, erected by the Authority;
the Authority may remove the vehicle, or cause it to be removed.
(3)Any such traffic sign as is referred to in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of this section shall be conspicuously posted in or in proximity to the place to which it relates.
(4)Where the Authority in exercise of the powers of subsection (2) of this section remove a vehicle, or cause it to be removed, the expenses of and incidental to the removal shall be recoverable by the Authority from the owner of the vehicle as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(5)If the Authority in exercise of the powers of this section remove a vehicle to a place not readily visible from the place whence it is so removed, they shall, if and as soon as it is reasonably practicable to do so, send to the owner of the vehicle or, if there is no such person or the vehicle does not carry a G.B. registration mark (as defined in the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations, 1968), to the person who appears to the Authority to be the owner of the vehicle notice in accordance with regulation 13 of the said regulations of 1968 or any other regulation having the like effect for the time being in force that they have exercised the powers of this section and of the place to which the vehicle has been removed.
(6)A traffic sign conforming to such design as the Secretary of State for the Environment may authorise; for the purpose, stating the general effect of subsection (2) of this section, shall be displayed in a prominent position at each entrance to any parking place provided under subsection (1) of this section.
(7)(a) In this section—
" owner " means the person for the time being registered as the owner of the vehicle for the purposes of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1964, or any other regulations having the like effect for the time being in force and in relation to a vehicle which is the subject of a hiring agreement or hire purchase agreement includes the person entitled to possession of the vehicle under the agreement;
" vehicle " includes a trailer.
(b)In relation to a trailer which has been removed by the Authority paragraph (a) of this subsection shall have effect as if for the reference to the person for the time being registered as the owner of the vehicle there was substituted a reference to the owner of the trailer.