Finance Act 1967

12 Vehicles excise duty: additional liability for keeping unlicensed vehicle.

(1) Where a person convicted of an offence under section 7 of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962 (using or keeping an unlicensed vehicle) is the person by whom the vehicle in respect of which the offence was committed was kept at the time it was committed, the court shall, in addition to any penalty which it may impose under that section, order him to pay an amount calculated in accordance with subsections (2) to (4) below.

(2) The said amount shall, subject to subsection (3) below, be an amount equal to one-twelfth of the annual rate of duty appropriate to the vehicle in question for each calendar month or part of a calendar month in the relevant period, and the relevant period shall be one ending with the date of the offence and beginning—

(a) if the person convicted has before that date notified the county council of his acquisition of the vehicle in accordance with regulations under the said Act of 1962, with the date on which the notification was received by the council or, if later, with the expiry of the licence last in force for the vehicle, or

(b) in any other case, with the expiry of the licence last in force for the vehicle before the date of the offence or, if there has not at any time before that date been a licence in force for the vehicle, with the date on which the vehicle was first kept by that person:

Provided that, where the person convicted has been ordered to pay an amount under this section on the occasion of a previous conviction in respect of the same vehicle, and the offence then charged was committed after the date specified above for the beginning of the relevant period, that period shall begin instead with the calendar month immediately following that in which the former offence was committed.

(3) Where the person convicted proves—

(a) that throughout any month or part of a month comprised in the relevant period the vehicle in question was not kept by him, or was neither used nor kept by him on a public road in Great Britain, or was not chargeable with duty, or

(b) that he has paid duty in respect of the vehicle for any such month or part, whether or not on a licence,

the said amount shall be calculated as if that month or part were not comprised in the relevant period.

(4) In relation to any month or part of a month comprised in the relevant period, the reference in subsection (2) above to the annual rate of duty appropriate to the vehicle in question is a reference to the annual rate applicable to it at the beginning of that month or part; and, except so far as it is proved to have fallen within some other class or description for the whole of any such month or part, a vehicle shall be taken for the purposes of this section to have belonged throughout the relevant period to that class or description of vehicle to which it belonged for the purposes of duty at the date of the offence or, if the prosecution so elect, the date when a licence for it was last issued.

(5) Where, on a person's conviction of an offence under the said section 7, an order is made under Part I of the [1948 c. 58.] Criminal Justice Act 1948 placing him on probation or discharging him absolutely or conditionally, the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply as if the conviction were deemed to be a conviction for all purposes.

(6) In the foregoing provisions of this section " duty " and " licence " mean respectively the duty chargeable under, and a licence issued under, the said Act of 1962 or any enactment repealed by that Act, and any reference to the expiry of a licence includes a reference to its surrender, and to its being treated as no longer in force for the purposes of the said section 7 by virtue of section 11(2) above; and, in the case of a conviction for a continuing offence, the offence shall be taken for the purposes of those provisions to have been committed on the date or latest date to which the conviction relates.

(7) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions (applying with the necessary modifications) of any enactment relating to the imposition of fines by magistrates' courts, other than one conferring a discretion as to their amount; and any sum payable by virtue of an order under this section shall be treated as a fine, and the order as a conviction, for the purposes of Part III of the [1952 c. 55.] Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (including any enactment having effect as if contained in that Part) and of any other enactment relating to the recovery or application of sums ordered to be paid by magistrates' courts.

(8) Any person who is alleged to have used a vehicle in contravention of the said section 7 shall, if required to do so by or on behalf of a chief officer of police or a county council, give such information as it is in his power to give as to the identity of the person by whom the vehicle was kept at the time, and a person failing to comply with a requirement under this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(9) This section shall not have effect in relation to any offence committed before the passing of this Act.

(10) In its application to Scotland, this section shall have effect as if for subsections (5) and (7) there were substituted the following subsections respectively:—

“(5) Where a person is convicted on indictment of, or is charged before a court of summary jurisdiction with, an offence under the said section 7, and an order is made under Part I of the [1949 c. 94.] Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949 discharging him absolutely or placing him on probation, the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply as if the conviction on indictment were a conviction for all purposes, or, as the case may be, the making of the order by the court of summary jurisdiction were a conviction.”

“(7) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions (applying with the necessary modifications) of any enactment relating to the imposition of fines by courts of summary jurisdiction, other than one conferring a discretion as to their amount; and any sum payable by virtue of an order under this section shall be treated as a fine, and the order as a conviction, for the purposes of any enactment relating to the recovery or application of sums ordered to be paid by courts of summary jurisdiction.”