Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 s.2 – Requirement of warning etc: supplementary

(1)The requirement of section 1(1) of this Act does not apply in relation to an offence if, at the time of the offence or immediately after it, an accident occurs owing to the presence on a road of the vehicle in respect of which the offence was committed.

(2)The requirement of section 1(1) of this Act does not apply in relation to an offence in respect of which—

(a)^F4a fixed penalty notice (within the meaning of Part III of this Act) has been given or fixed under any provision of that Part, ...

^F5 (b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)Failure to comply with the requirement of section 1(1) of this Act is not a bar to the conviction of the accused in a case where the court is satisfied—

(a)that neither the name and address of the accused nor the name and address of the registered keeper, if any, could with reasonable diligence have been ascertained in time for a summons or, as the case may be, a complaint to be served or for a notice to be served or sent in compliance with the requirement, or

(b)that the accused by his own conduct contributed to the failure.

^F6 (4)Failure to comply with the requirement of section 1(1) of this Act in relation to an offence is not a bar to the conviction of a person of that offence by virtue of the provisions of—

(a)section 24 of this Act, or

(b)any of the enactments mentioned in section 24(6);

but a person is not to be convicted of an offence by virtue of any of those provisions if section 1 applies to the offence with which he was charged and the requirement of section 1(1) was not satisfied in relation to the offence charged.

Definitions used in section 2 2

road: “road”—
Defined in s.98(1) · see it in the full Act
fixed penalty notice: “fixed penalty notice” has the meaning given by section 52 of this Act ,
Defined in s.90F · see it in the full Act

Cases considering section 2 3

Pledge v R

[2019] EWCA Crim 912 · 6 June 2019

The court applied section 2 as providing an exception to the section 1 notice requirement. The case turned on the reasonable-diligence condition in section 2(3)(a) (see paras [17]; [20]; [33]). The court held that the reasonable-diligence exception applied. The officer was entitled to rely on the usual DVLA-derived registered keeper address because there was no real indication that it was inaccurate; a different company website address did not require speculative duplicate service (see paras [20]; [32]-[33]).

Currie, R v

[2007] EWCA Crim 926 · 26 April 2007Interprets

The court applied section 2(1) as exempting the prosecution from the section 1(1) notice requirement if an accident occurs owing to the vehicle’s presence on a road. The prosecution bore the criminal burden of proving the exception, which was satisfied on the accepted evidence (see paras [19]; [21]-[25]). The reference to the court being satisfied in section 2(3) means the judge in Crown Court proceedings. The court treated this as supporting the conclusion that factual issues across the procedural notice regime are for the judge (see paras [11]; [16]-[18]).

Gidden v Chief Constable of Humberside

[2009] EWHC 2924 (Admin) · 29 October 2009

Recognised as containing statutory exceptions to the general notice requirement, but no exception was relied upon or applied in this case (see para [5]).

What each judgment says about section 2 is in the case-law panel in the full Act.

Amendments and notes

5 notes from legislation.gov.uk

Amendments

F4Word in s. 2(2)(a) omitted (30.11.2022) by virtue of Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32), s. 208(1), Sch. 10 para. 2(2)(a); S.I. 2022/1187, reg. 4(a) (with Pt. 3)
F5S. 2(2)(b) omitted (30.11.2022) by virtue of Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32), s. 208(1), Sch. 10 para. 2(2)(b); S.I. 2022/1187, reg. 4(a) (with Pt. 3)
F6S. 2(4) substituted (1.7.1992) for s. 2(4)-(6) by Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40, SIF 107:1), s. 48, Sch. 4 para. 81; S.I. 1992/1286, art. 2,Sch.

Modifications

C14Ss. 1, 2 excluded by Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52, SIF 107:1), s. 193, Sch. 4 paras. 8, 11
C15S. 2: power to exclude or modify conferred (1.7.1992) by Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52, SIF 107:1), s. 193A(2)(b) (inserted (1.7.1992) by Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40, SIF 107:1), s. 46(2); S.I. 1992/1286, art. 2,Sch.).