Civil Defence Act 1939

16 Power of factory inspector, mines inspector or local authority to require provision of air-raid shelter.

(1) A factory inspector may serve on the occupier of factory premises, a mines inspector may serve on the owner of a mine, and the local authority may serve on the owner of a commercial building (whether or not any report has been made under the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act) a notice in writing requiring him to provide air-raid shelter of the approved standard for all or any of the persons working or living in the factory premises, working in or about the mine, or working or living in the commercial building, as the case may be.

(2) Any such notice shall specify with such particularity as the inspector or authority thinks or think reasonably necessary the nature and situation of the shelter, and shall specify the number of persons that the shelter is to be constructed to accommodate.

(3) Any such notice shall also state—

(a) that the shelter is to be provided within such time as may be specified in the notice or such longer time as the Minister may allow;

(b) that that time will begin to run twenty-eight days after the service of the notice, or, if an appeal is brought against the notice, from the date of the determination or abandonment of the appeal.

(4) An occupier or owner on whom such a notice has been served shall not exercise any power to execute works conferred by the last preceding section except for the purpose of complying with the said requirements.

(5) If any person fails to comply with the requirements of a notice served on him under this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and, if the default in respect of which he was so convicted continues after the conviction, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for each day on which the default so continues :

Provided that the court by which a person is convicted of an offence may fix a reasonable period from the date of conviction for compliance by the defendant with the requirements of the notice, and, where a court has fixed such a period, the said daily penalty shall not be recoverable in respect of any day before the expiration thereof.

(6) Where a notice is served under this section on the occupier of factory premises who is not the owner of the whole of the premises, he shall, within fourteen days from the date of the service of the notice on him, serve a copy thereof on his immediate landlord, or, where he holds different parts of the premises under different landlords, on each of his immediate landlords.

(7) Where a notice is served under this section on the owner of a commercial building who is not the occupier of the whole of the building, he shall, within fourteen days from the date of the service of the notice on him, serve a copy thereof on—

(a) every lessee of the whole or any part of the building whose lease is immediately derived from the estate or interest of the owner; and

(b) the occupier of the building or, where different parts of the building are occupied by different persons, each of those persons.

(8) Where a notice is served under this section on the occupier of factory premises or the owner of a commercial building and the occupier or owner holds any part of the premises or building on lease, he shall within fourteen days from the date of the service of the notice on him serve a copy thereof upon his immediate landlord or where he holds different parts of the premises or building under different landlords, on each of his immediate landlords, and each person upon whom a copy of such a notice is served in satisfaction of an obligation imposed by this subsection shall within seven days from the date of the service of the copy on him himself serve a copy upon his immediate landlord or landlords, if any:

Provided that, where the occupier of factory premises has under subsection (6) of this section served a copy of a notice on a person, the service of the copy shall be treated as satisfying his obligation under this subsection to serve a copy on that person.

(9) A notice under this section requiring the provision of air-raid shelter shall be deemed to be complied, with if, by an agreement under Part II of this Act between the occupier of the premises or the owner of the building, as the case may be, and the local authority for the purposes of that Part, that shelter is provided in a public air-raid shelter.