This Schedule shall extend only to such areas as may be specified by an order made by the Secretary of State; and an order made by him may exclude the application of this Schedule to any offence.

The power of the Secretary of State to make orders under this paragraph shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Where at any time within the interim period a constable finds a person on any occasion and has reason to believe that on that occasion he is committing or has committed an offence to which this Schedule applies, he may give him the prescribed notice in writing, offering the opportunity of the discharge of any liability to conviction of that offence by payment of a fixed penalty under this Schedule; and no person shall then be liable to be convicted of that offence if the fixed penalty is paid in accordance with this Schedule before the end of the period of 21 days following the date of the notice, or such longer period (if any) as may be specified in the notice, or before the date on which preceedings are begun, whichever event last occurs.

Where a person is given a notice under this paragraph in respect of an offence, proceedings shall not be taken against any person for that offence by any constable or local authority until the end of 21 days following the date of the notice or such longer period (if any) as may be specified in the notice.

A notice under this paragraph shall give such particulars of the circumstances alleged to constitute the offence as are necessary for giving reasonable information of those circumstances, and shall state also the period during which, by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) above, proceedings will not be taken for the offence, the amount of the fixed penalty, and the justices’ clerk to whom, and the address at which, the fixed penalty may be paid.

Where at any time within the interim period a constable finds a vehicle on any occasion and has reason to believe that on that occasion there is being or has been committed in respect of it an offence to which this Schedule applies, he may proceed under this paragraph as if he had found a person reasonably believed by him to be committing the offence; and for that purpose a notice affixed to the vehicle shall be deemed to be given to the person liable for that offence.

A notice affixed to a vehicle under sub-paragraph (4) above shall not be removed or interfered with except by or under the authority of the driver or the person in charge of the vehicle or the person liable for the offence in question; and any person who contravenes this sub-paragraph shall be guilty of an offence.

In so far as an order made, or having effect as if made, under section 95(5) of this Act authorises the employment of traffic wardens for the purposes of this paragraph, references in this paragraph to a constable shall include a traffic warden.

In the application of this paragraph to Scotland, any reference to a justices’ clerk shall be construed as a reference to a clerk of court; in sub-paragraph (1) above, for the words from “before the end of the period" to the end of the sub-paragraph, there shall be substituted the words “before the date on which proceedings are begun"; and in sub-paragraph (2) the words “by any constable or local authority” shall be omitted.

In this paragraph “proceedings” means any criminal proceedings in respect of the act or omission constituting the offence specified in a notice under this paragraph, and “convicted” shall be construed accordingly.

Subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, the fixed penalty for an offence to which this Schedule applies shall be £10, or one half the maximum amount of the fine to which a person is liable on summary conviction of the offence, whichever is the less.

The Secretary of State may by order provide for the fixed penalty to be in any case more or less than £10, but not more in the case of any offence than one-half the maximum amount of the fine to which a person is liable on summary conviction of that offence.

Payment of a fixed penalty under this Schedule shall be made to such justices’ clerk as may be specified in the notice under paragraph 3 of this Schedule relating to that penalty; and sums paid by way of fixed penalty for an offence shall be treated for the purpose of section 61 of the Justices of the M3Peace Act 1979 (application of fines and fees) as if they were fines imposed on summary conviction for that offence.

In any proceedings a certificate that payment of a fixed penalty was or was not made, by a date specified in the certificate, to the justices’ clerk specified in a notice under paragraph 3 of this Schedule relating to that penalty shall, if this certificate purports to be signed by the justices’ clerk, be sufficient evidence of the facts stated, unless the contrary is proved.

In this paragraph “justices’ clerk” has the same meaning as in section 61 of the Justices of the M4Peace Act 1979.

Sub-paragraph (2) above shall not apply in relation to any person unless, within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which the notice under paragraph 3 of this Schedule was given or affixed as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(a) above, a notice under sub-paragraph (6) below has been served on him by or on behalf of the chief officer of police.

If the person on whom a notice under sub-paragraph (6) below is served in accordance with sub-paragraph (3) above was not the owner of the vehicle at the relevant time, sub-paragraph (2) above shall not apply in relation to him if he furnishes a statutory statement of ownership under this Schedule to that effect in compliance with the notice.

The provisions of sub-paragraphs (2) to (5) below shall have effect where a notice has been served on any person (in this paragraph referred to as the “recipient”) under paragraph 5(6) of this Schedule.

If the fixed penalty specified in the notice is not paid within the appropriate period, and the recipient fails without reasonable excuse to comply with the notice by furnishing a statutory statement of ownership under this Schedule, he shall be guilty of an offence.

If in compliance with or in response to the notice, any person furnishes a statement which is false in a material particular, and does so recklessly or knowing it to be false in that particular, he shall be guilty of an offence.

If the fixed penalty is paid by any person before the date on which proceedings are begun against the recipient for an offence under sub-paragraph (2) above in respect of a failure to comply with the notice, the payment of the penalty shall discharge any liability of the recipient for that offence.

Except as provided by sub-paragraphs (4) and (5) above, nothing in paragraph 5 of this Schedule or this paragraph shall affect the liability of any person for an offence specified in a notice under sub-paragraph (6) of that paragraph.

Where, in compliance with a notice under paragraph 5(6) of this Schedule, a vehicle-hire firm has furnished copies of a hiring agreement and statement of liability under this Schedule as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) above, a person authorised in that behalf by the chief officer of police to whom the documents are furnished may, at any reasonable time within 6 months after service of that notice, and on production of his authority, require the production by the firm of the originals of those documents; and if, without reasonable excuse, a vehicle-hire firm fails to produce the original of a document when required to do so under this sub-paragraph, the firm shall be treated as not having complied with the notice under paragraph 5(6) of this Schedule.

This paragraph applies to a hiring agreement under the terms of which the vehicle concerned is let to the hirer for a fixed period of less than 6 months (whether or not that period is capable of extension by agreement between the parties or otherwise)X; and any reference in this paragraph to the currency of the hiring agreement includes a reference to any period during which, with the consent of the vehicle-hire firm, the hirer continues in possession of the vehicle as hirer, after the expiry of the fixed period specified in the agreement, but otherwise on terms and conditions specified in it.

Any reference to a statement of liability under this Schedule is a reference to a statement made by the hirer under a hiring agreement to which this paragraph applies to the effect that the hirer acknowledges that he will be liable, as owner of the vehicle, in respect of any offence which may be committed during the currency of the agreement and is an offence committed in respect of a stationary vehicle and falling within any of paragraphs (a) to (c) or within paragraph (f) of paragraph 2(2) of this Schedule (other than the offence, mentioned in paragraph 2(2)(b) above, of obstructing a road).

Proceedings in England or Wales for an offence under paragraph 6(3) of this Schedule may be brought within a period of 6 months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to warrant the proceedings came to his knowledge; but no such proceedings shall be brought by virtue of this paragraph more than 3 years after the commission of the offence.

Proceedings in Scotland for an offence under paragraph 6(3) of this Schedule shall not be commenced after the expiry of the period of 3 years from the commission of the offence; but, subject to the foregoing limitation, and not withstanding anything in section 331 of the M5Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975, any such proceedings may be commenced at any time within 6 months after the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Lord Advocate to justify the proceedings came to his knowledge or, where such evidence was reported to him by a local authority, within 6 months after the date on which it came to their knowledge; and subsection (3) of the said section 331 shall apply for the purposes of this sub-paragraph as it applies for the purposes of that section.

For the purposes of sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) above, a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor or, as the case may be, the Lord Advocate or the local authority, and stating the date on which evidence such as is mentioned in the sub-paragraph in question came to his or their knowledge, shall be conclusive evidence of that fact; and a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

For the purposes of sections 1(2) and 2(1) of the M7Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (power to issue summons or warrant and jurisdiction to try offences) any offence under paragraph 6(2) of this Schedule shall be treated as committed at any address which at the time of service of the notice under paragraph 5(6) of this Schedule to which the offence relates was the accused’s proper address (in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) above) for service of any such notice, as well as at the address to which any statutory statement furnished in response to that notice is required to be returned in accordance with the notice.

In this Schedule—

• “appropriate period”, in relation to a notice under paragraph 5(6) of this Schedule, means the period of 14 days from the date on which the notice is served, or such longer period as may be allowed by the chief officer of police by or on behalf of whom the notice is served;

• “driver”, in relation to the alleged offence referred to in paragraph 5(1) of this Schedule, means the person by whom, assuming the alleged offence to have been committed, it was committed;

• “the interim period” has the meaning assigned to it by paragraph 1 of this Schedule;

• “relevant time”, in relation to the alleged offence referred to in paragaph 5(1) of this Schedule, means the time at which the offence is alleged to have been committed.

For the purposes of this Schedule the owner of a vehicle shall be taken to be the peson by whom the vehicle is kept; and for the purpose of determining, in the course of any proceedings brought by virtue of this Schedule, who was the owner of the vehicle at any time, it shall be presumed that the owner was the person who was the registered keepr of the vehicle at that time.

Notwithstanding the presumption in sub-paragraph (2) above it shall be open to the defence in any proceedings to prove that the person who was the registered keeper of a vehicle at a particular time was not the person by whom the vehicle was kept at that time, and it shall be open to the prosecution to prove that the vehicle was kept by some other person at that time.

References in this Schedule to the person who was or is the registered keeper of a vehicle at any time are references to the person in whose name the vehicle was or is at that time registered under the M8Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971; and, in relation to any such person, the reference in paragraph 10(2)(a) above to that person’s registered address is a reference to the address recorded in the record kept under that Act with respect to that vehicle as being that person’s address.