Road Traffic Act 1960

237 Power to seize articles with respect to which offences under sections 233 to 236 may have been committed

(1) If a police constable has reasonable cause to believe that a document produced to him in pursuance of any of the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act (other than a document produced by virtue of subsection (2) of section two hundred and twenty-seven) is a document in relation to which an offence has been committed under any of the four last foregoing sections, he may seize the document; and when a document is seized under this subsection, the person from whom it was taken shall, unless the document has been previously returned to him or he has been previously charged with an offence under any of those sections, be summoned before a magistrates' court to account for his possession of the said document and the court shall make such order respecting the disposal of the said document and award such costs as the justice of the case may require.

(2) If a police constable, a certifying officer appointed under Part III of this Act or an examiner appointed under Part IV thereof has reasonable cause to believe that a document or plate carried on a motor vehicle or by the driver thereof is a document or plate in relation to which an offence has been committed under any of the four last foregoing sections in so far as they apply—

(a) to carriers' licences under Part IV of this Act, or

(b) to documents or plates by which, in pursuance of regulations made under Part IV of this Act, vehicles are to be identified as being authorised vehicles within the meaning of the said Part IV, or

(c) to documents evidencing the appointment of examiners or other officers for the purposes of Part IV of this Act, or

(d) to records under section one hundred and eighty-six of this Act,

he may seize the document or plate ; and when a document or plate is seized under this subsection, either the driver or the owner of the vehicle shall, if the document or plate is still detained and neither of them has previously been charged with an offence in relation thereto under any of the four last foregoing sections, be summoned before a magistrates' court to account for Ms possession of, or the presence on the vehicle of, the said document or plate and the court shall make such order respecting the disposal of the said document or plate and award such costs as the justice of the case may

For the purposes of this subsection the power to seize shall include power to detach from a vehicle.

(3) In the application of this section to Scotland for any reference to a magistrates' court there shall be substituted a reference to the sheriff.