Road Traffic Act 1974

14 Weighing of motor vehicles

(1) Section 160 of the 1972 Act (weighing of motor vehicles) shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(2) In subsection (1) (person in charge of a motor vehicle who refuses or neglects to comply with a requirement under that subsection to be guilty of an offence) after the word " requirement " there shall be inserted the words " or obstructs a person or constable so authorised in the exercise of his functions under this section ".

(3) At the end of subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsections:—

“(1A) Regulations under subsection (1) above may make provision with respect to—

(a) the manner in which a vehicle or trailer is to be weighed or a weight is to be tested as mentioned in subsection (1) above, and

(b) the limits within which, unless the contrary is proved, any weight determined by a weighbridge or other machine for weighing vehicles is to be presumed to be accurate for the purposes of any provision made by or under this Act or by or under any other enactment relating to motor vehicles or trailers,

and the regulations may make different provision in relation to vehicles of different classes, in relation to different types of weighbridges and other machines and in relation to different circumstances.

(1B) If, for the purpose of enabling a vehicle or a trailer drawn by it to be weighed or a weight to be tested in accordance with regulations under subsection (1) above, a person or constable authorised as mentioned in that subsection requires the person in charge of the vehicle to drive the vehicle or to do any other thing in relation to the vehicle or its load or the trailer or its load which is reasonably required to be done for that purpose and the person in charge of the vehicle refuses or neglects to comply with that requirement he shall be guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above.”

(4) In subsection (4) (extension, in relation to goods vehicles, of powers under section 160 to certifying officers, goods vehicle examiners and authorised officers of the Secretary of State) for the words " goods vehicles " there shall be substituted the words " vehicles of a class prescribed for the purposes of section 51 of this Act and goods vehicles generally " and after the words "apply accordingly" there shall be inserted the words " in relation to vehicles of a class so prescribed and goods vehicles generally as if references to a constable so authorised included references to such a certifying officer, examiner or officer of the Secretary of State and ".

(5) After subsection (4) there shall be added the following subsections:—

“(5) A certificate in the prescribed form which—

(a) purports to be signed by a person or constable authorised as mentioned in subsection (1) above or by a person exercising powers by virtue of subsection (4) above ; and

(b) states, in relation to a vehicle identified in the certificate, any weight determined in relation to that vehicle on the occasion of its being brought to a weighbridge or other machine in pursuance of a requirement under subsection (1) above,

shall be evidence or, in Scotland, sufficient evidence of the matter so stated.

(6) If, for the purposes of or in connection with the determination of any weight in relation to a vehicle which is brought to a weighbridge or other machine as mentioned in subsection (1) above, a person or constable authorised as mentioned in that subsection or a person exercising powers by virtue of subsection (4) above—

(a) drives a vehicle or does any other thing in relation to a vehicle or its load or a trailer or its load, or

(b) requires the driver of a vehicle to drive it in a particular manner or to a particular place or to do any other thing in relation to a vehicle or its load or a trailer or its load,

neither he nor any person complying with such a requirement shall be liable for any damage to or loss in respect of the vehicle or its load or the trailer or its load unless it is shown that he acted without reasonable care.

(7) In this section ' road' includes any land which forms part of a harbour or which is adjacent to a harbour and is occupied wholly or partly for the purposes of harbour operations; and ' harbour' and ' harbour operations' have the meanings assigned to them by section 57(1) of the Harbours Act 1964.”