Road Traffic Act 1988

164 Power of constables to require production of driving licence and in certain cases statement of date of birth.E+W+S

(1)Any of the following persons—

(a)a person driving a motor vehicle on a road,

(b)a person whom a constable [F1or vehicle examiner] has reasonable cause to believe to have been the driver of a motor vehicle at a time when an accident occurred owing to its presence on a road,

(c)a person whom a constable [F1or vehicle examiner] has reasonable cause to believe to have committed an offence in relation to the use of a motor vehicle on a road, or

(d)a person—

(i)who supervises the holder of a provisional licence while the holder is driving a motor vehicle on a road, or

(ii)whom a constable [F1or vehicle examiner] has reasonable cause to believe was supervising the holder of a provisional licence while driving, at a time when an accident occurred owing to the presence of the vehicle on a road or at a time when an offence is suspected of having been committed by the holder of the provisional licence in relation to the use of the vehicle on a road,

must, on being so required by a constable [F1or vehicle examiner], produce his licence [F2and its counterpart] for examination, so as to enable the constable [F1or vehicle examiner] to ascertain the name and address of the holder of the licence, the date of issue, and the authority by which [F3they were] issued.

(2)[F4A person required by a constable under subsection (1) above to produce his licence] must in prescribed circumstances, on being so required by the constable, state his date of birth.

(3)If—

[F5(a)the Secretary of State has—

(i)revoked a licence under section 93 or 99 of this Act, or

(ii)revoked or suspended a large goods vehicle driver’s licence or a passenger-carrying vehicle driver’s licence under section 115 of this Act, and]

(b)the holder of the licence fails to deliver it [F6and its counterpart] to the Secretary of State [F7or the traffic commissioner, as the case may be] in pursuance of [F8section 93, 99 or 118 (as the case may be)],

a constable [F9or vehicle examiner] may require him to [F10produce the licence and its counterpart], and upon [F10their] being produced may seize [F11them] and deliver [F11them] to the Secretary of State.

(4)Where a constable has reasonable cause to believe that the holder of a licence, or any other person, has knowingly made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining the grant of the licence, the constable may require the holder of the licence to produce it [F12and its counterpart] to him.

[F13(4A)Where a constable to whom a provisional licence has been produced by a person driving a motor bicycle has reasonable cause to believe that the holder was not driving it as part of the training being provided on a training course for motor cyclists, the constable may require him to produce the prescribed certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists.]

(5)Where a person has been required under [F14section 26 or 27 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 or section 44 of the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 or section 223A or 436A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975] to produce a licence [F15and its counterpart] to the court and fails to do so, a constable may require him to produce [F16them] and, upon [F16their] being produced, may seize [F16them] and deliver [F16them] to the court.

(6)If a person required under the preceding provisions of this section to produce a licence [F17and its counterpart] or state his date of birth [F18or to produce his certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists]. . . fails to do so he is, subject to subsections (7) [F19to (8A)] below, guilty of an offence.

(7)Subsection (6) above does not apply where a person required on any occasion under the preceding provisions of this section to produce a licence [F20and its counterpart]—

(a)produces on that occasion a current receipt for the licence [F21and its counterpart] issued under section 56 of the M1Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and, if required to do so, produces the licence [F21and its counterpart] in person immediately on [F22their] return at a police station that was specified on that occasion, or

(b)within seven days after that occasion produces such a receipt in person at a police station that was specified by him on that occasion and, if required to do so, produces the licence [F23and its counterpart] in person immediately on [F24their] return at that police station.

(8)In proceedings against any person for the offence of failing to produce a licence [F25and its counterpart] it shall be a defence for him to show that—

(a)within seven days after the production of his licence [F25and its counterpart] was required he produced [F26them] in person at a police station that was specified by him at the time [F27their] production was required, or

(b)he produced [F26them] in person there as soon as was reasonably practicable, or

(c)it was not reasonably practicable for him to produce [F26them] there before the day on which the proceedings were commenced,

and for the purposes of this subsection the laying of the information or, in Scotland, the service of the complaint on the accused shall be treated as the commencement of the proceedings.

[F28(8A)Subsection (8) above shall apply in relation to a certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists as it applies in relation to a licence.]

(9)Where in accordance with this section a person has stated his date of birth to a constable, the Secretary of State may serve on that person a notice in writing requiring him to provide the Secretary of State—

(a)with such evidence in that person’s possession or obtainable by him as the Secretary of State may specify for the purpose of verifying that date, and

(b)if his name differs from his name at the time of his birth, with a statement in writing specifying his name at that time,

and a person who knowingly fails to comply with a notice under this subsection is guilty of an offence.

(10)A notice authorised to be served on any person by subsection (9) above may be served on him by delivering it to him or by leaving it at his proper address or by sending it to him by post; and for the purposes of this subsection and section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 M2 in its application to this subsection the proper address of any person shall be his latest address as known to the person giving the notice.

(11)In this section “licence”[F29, “counterpart”] and “provisional licence”[F30and “training course for motor cyclists” and, in relation to such a course, “the prescribed certificate of completion”] have the same meanings as in Part III of this Act [F31and “vehicle examiner” means an examiner appointed under section 66A of this Act.].