C1Part VII Miscellaneous and General
Powers of constables and other authorised persons
164 Power of constables to require production of driving licence and in certain cases statement of date of birth.
C2C3C41
Any of the following persons—
a
a person driving a motor vehicle on a road,
b
a person whom a constable F6or 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 F6or 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 F6or 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 F6or vehicle examiner, produce his licence F7and its counterpart for examination, so as to enable the constable F6or vehicle examiner to ascertain the name and address of the holder of the licence, the date of issue, and the authority by which F8they were issued.
C52
F9A 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—
F10a
the Secretary of State has—
i
revoked a licence under section F1192, 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, andF12or
iii
served notice requiring the delivery of a licence to him in pursuance of section 99C F1, 109B or 115A of this Act,
b
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 F20and its counterpart to him.
F54A
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.
C65
Where a person has been required under F21section 26 or 27 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 F22section 40B of the Child Support Act 1991F23, section 40 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997, section 146 or 147 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 or section 223A or 436A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 to produce a licence F24and its counterpart to the court and fails to do so, a constable may require him to produce F25them and, upon F25their being produced, may seize F25them and deliver F25them to the court.
C2C7C86
If a person required under the preceding provisions of this section to produce a licence F26and its counterpart or state his date of birth F27or to produce his certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists. . . fails to do so he is, subject to subsections (7) F28to (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 F29and its counterpart—
a
produces on that occasion a current receipt for the licence F30and its counterpart issued under section 56 of the M1Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and, if required to do so, produces the licence F30and its counterpart in person immediately on F31their return at a police station that was specified on that occasion, or
C2C98
In proceedings against any person for the offence of failing to produce a licence F34and its counterpart it shall be a defence for him to show that—
a
b
he produced F35them in person there as soon as was reasonably practicable, or
c
it was not reasonably practicable for him to produce F35them 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.
F378A
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.
F3811
In this section—
“licence” means a licence under Part III of this Act F3, a Northern Ireland licenceor a Community licence,
“vehicle examiner” means an examiner appointed under section 66A of this Act;
and “Community licence”, “counterpart”,F4“Northern Ireland licence”,“provisional licence”, “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.
Pt. VII modified (16.8.2006) by The Dover Harbour Revision Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2167), art. 27