Transport Act 1982

31 Effect where fixed penalty notice is affixed to the vehicle

(1) This section applies where a fixed penalty notice relating to an offence has been affixed to a vehicle under section 27(2) of this Act.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, where the fixed penalty has not been paid in accordance with this Part of this Act within the suspended enforcement period, a notice under this section (referred to below in this Part of this Act as a notice to owner) may be served by or on behalf of the chief officer of police on any person who appears to him (or to any person authorised to act on his behalf for the purposes of this section) to be the owner of the vehicle.

(3) Subsection (2) above does not apply where before the end of the suspended enforcement period any person has given notice requesting a hearing in respect of the offence in the manner specified in the fixed penalty notice, and the notice so given contains a statement by that person to the effect that he was the driver of the vehicle at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed (referred to below in this Part of this Act as the time of the alleged offence).

(4) A notice to owner—

(a) shall give particulars of the alleged offence and of the fixed penalty concerned;

(b) shall state the period which, by virtue of subsection (9) below, is the period allowed for response to the notice ; and

(c) shall indicate that, if the fixed penalty is not paid before the end of that period, the person on whom the notice is served is asked to furnish before the end of that period to the chief officer of police by or on whose behalf the notice was served a statutory statement of ownership (as defined in Part I of Schedule 3 to this Act).

(5) A person on whom a notice to owner relating to the offence is served under subsection (2) above shall not be liable in respect of the offence by virtue of this section if—

(a) he was not the owner of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence; and

(b) he furnishes a statutory statement of ownership to that effect in response to the notice before the end of the period mentioned in subsection (4) above.

(6) Except as provided by subsection (5) above, and subject to section 32 of this Act, where—

(a) a notice to owner relating to the offence has been served on any person under subsection (2) above before the end of the period of six months beginning with the day on which the fixed penalty notice was affixed to the vehicle; and

(b) the fixed penalty has not been paid in accordance with this Part of this Act before the end of the period allowed under this section for response to the notice to owner;

proceedings may be brought in respect of the offence against the person on whom the notice to owner was served.

(7) Subject to subsection (8) below—

(a) for the purposes of the institution of proceedings by virtue of subsection (6) above against any person on whom a notice to owner has been served ; and

(b) in any proceedings brought by virtue of that subsection against any such person ;

it shall be conclusively presumed (notwithstanding that that person may not be an individual) that he was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence and, accordingly, that acts or omissions of the driver of the vehicle at that time were his acts or omissions.

(8) That presumption shall not apply in any proceedings brought against any person by virtue of subsection (6) above if, in those proceedings, it is proved that at the time of the alleged offence the vehicle was in the possession of some other person without the consent of the accused.

(9) The period allowed for response to a notice to owner is the period of twenty-one days from the date on which the notice is served, or such longer period (if any) as may be specified in the notice.