(1)Where, in the exercise of his powers under section 20 of this Act, an enforcement officer seizes and detains any appliance and its owner suffers loss by reason of that fact or by reason that the appliance, during the detention, is lost or damaged or deteriorates, then, unless the owner is convicted of a relevant offence committed in relation to that appliance, the local weights and measures authority or (as the case may be) the Government department employing that officer shall be liable to compensate the owner of the appliance for the loss suffered.
(2)Any disputed question as to the right to or the amount of any compensation payable under this section shall be determined by arbitration and, in Scotland, by a single arbiter appointed, failing agreement between the parties, by the sheriff.