Road Traffic Act 1972

Restrictions on use of motor vehicles off roadway

35 Control of use of footpaths and bridleways for motor vehicle trials

(1) No person shall promote or take part in a trial of any description between motor vehicles on a footpath or bridleway unless the holding of the trial has been authorised under this section by the local authority.

(2) A local authority shall not give an authorisation under this section unless satisfied that consent in writing to the use of any length of footpath or bridleway for the purposes of the trial has been given by the owner and by the occupier of the land over which that length of footpath or bridleway runs, and any such authorisation may be given subject to compliance with such conditions as the authority think fit.

(3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) above, or fails to comply with any conditions subject to which an authorisation under this section has been granted, shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) No statutory provision prohibiting or restricting the use of footpaths or bridleways or a specified footpath or bridleway shall affect the holding of a trial authorised under this section; but this section shall not prejudice any right or remedy of a person as having an interest in any land.

(5) In this section " local authority "—

(a) as respects England and Wales, means the council of a county or county borough, except that in relation to a footpath or bridleway for which the council of a borough, not being a county borough, or of an urban district is the highway authority, the said expression means that council;

(b) as respects Scotland, means a county council or town council;

and in this subsection " county borough " includes a London borough.

36 Prohibition of driving motor vehicles elsewhere than on roads

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, if without lawful authority a person drives a motor vehicle on to or upon any common land, moorland or other land of whatsoever description, not being land forming part of a road, or on any road being a footpath or bridleway, he shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) It shall not be an offence under this section to drive a motor vehicle on any land within fifteen yards of a road, being a road on which a motor vehicle may lawfully be driven, for the purpose only of parking the vehicle on that land.

(3) A person shall not be convicted of an offence under this section with respect to a vehicle if he proves to the satisfaction of the court that it was driven in contravention of this section for the purpose of saving life or extinguishing fire or meeting any other like emergency.

(4) It is hereby declared that nothing in this section prejudices the operation of section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (which relates to the rights of the public over commons and waste lands), or of any byelaws applying to any land or affects the law of trespass to land or any right or remedy to which a person may by law be entitled in respect of any such trespass or in particular confers a right to park a vehicle on any land.