11(1)Paragraph 26 (examination of motor vehicles etc.) is amended as follows.
(2)In sub-paragraph (1)(b)(iii), for “unlawfully” substitute “with intent to avoid payment of, or being identified as having failed to pay, a charge”.
(3)For sub-paragraph (2) substitute—
“(2)Regulations may make provision conferring power on any person authorised in writing by the charging authority to enter a motor vehicle where he has reasonable grounds for suspecting, in relation to a motor vehicle which is on a road, that—
(a)any equipment required to be carried in or fitted to the motor vehicle while it is on a road in respect of which charges are imposed has been interfered with with intent to avoid payment of, or being identified as having failed to pay, a charge imposed by the charging scheme; or
(b)there is in the motor vehicle a false document which has been made or used with intent to avoid payment of, or being identified as having failed to pay, such a charge.”
(4)After that sub-paragraph insert—
“(3)A person who intentionally obstructs a person exercising any power conferred on him by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) above is guilty of an offence.
(4)A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (3) above shall be liable on summary conviction to—
(a)a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or
(b)imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months,
or to both.
(5)Regulations may make provision conferring power on any person authorised in writing by the charging authority to seize anything (if necessary by detaching it from a motor vehicle) and detain it as evidence of the commission of an offence under paragraph 25 above.”