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| 20 | Payment of bond to secure removal |
| (1) | If a person ("the claimant") is offered the opportunity to do so by the custodian, and the conditions of subsection (2) below are satisfied, instead of paying all outstanding penalty charges and any other charges to the custodian, a person may pay to the custodian a bond in the prescribed sum in order to take possession of a vehicle (with its contents) under section 19 (taking possession of a vehicle) of this Act. |
| (2) | The conditions of this subsection are— |
| (a) | that the claimant satisfies the custodian that— |
| (i) | he is the owner of the vehicle or that he is authorised by the owner to take possession of the vehicle; |
| (ii) | he intends to make representations under paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act by virtue of paragraph 1(1)(c) of that Schedule; and |
| (b) | no bond has been paid under this section or in response to the service of a notice under subsection (4) of section 16 (preliminary procedure in other cases) of this Act on any previous occasion in respect of any of the outstanding penalty charges in question; and |
| (c) | the claimant provides to the custodian satisfactory and verifiable proof of his name and address and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle (if it is not him). |
| (3) | If a claimant takes possession of a vehicle, having satisfied the conditions of subsection (2) above, the custodian shall issue to the claimant a certificate in the prescribed form, stating— |
| (a) | that the certificate is issued under this section; |
| (b) | the date on which the certificate was issued; |
| (c) | the registration mark of the vehicle; |
| (d) | the date on which the certificate expires; |
| (e) | the effect of subsection (5) below; |
| (f) | the effect of paragraph 2 (4) of the said Schedule 2. |
| (4) | If a certificate issued under subsection (3) above is being displayed prominently in or on the vehicle to which it relates on or before the date on which it expires— |
| (a) | no immobilisation device may be fixed to the vehicle under section 15 (preliminary procedure where ownership details not known) of this Act; and |
| (b) | the vehicle may not be removed under section 17 (removal of vehicles) of this Act. |
| (5) | A certificate issued under subsection (3) above may expire no sooner than 14 days after the end of the period beginning with the date after which the relevant London authority are entitled, in accordance with paragraph 2(4) of the said Schedule 2, to disregard any representations received by them. |
| (6) | A person shall be guilty of an offence, liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, if— |
| (a) | in giving a relevant person information required to establish whether a condition of subsection (2) above is met, he— |
| (i) | makes a statement which he knows is false in a material particular; or |
| (ii) | recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular; or |
| (b) | he displays in or on a vehicle a false certificate, purportedly issued under subsection (3) above. |
| 21 | Claim by the owner of a vehicle after its disposal |
| (1) | If, after a vehicle has been disposed of by a custodian pursuant to section 18 (disposal of removed vehicles and contents) of this Act, a person claims to have been the owner of the vehicle at the time when it was disposed of and the conditions specified in subsection (2) below are met, there shall be payable to him by the custodian a sum calculated in accordance with subsection (3) below. |
| (2) | The conditions are that— |
| (a) | the claimant satisfies the custodian that he was the owner of the vehicle at the time it was disposed of; and |
| (b) | the claim is made before the end of the period of one year beginning with the date on which the vehicle was disposed of. |
| (3) | The sum payable under subsection (1) above shall be calculated by deducting from the proceeds of sale the sums that would have been payable under subsection (9) of section 19 (taking possession of a vehicle) of this Act, had the vehicle been claimed by the owner immediately before its disposal, together with such charge as may be imposed by section 17 (removal of vehicles) of this Act in respect of the disposal of a vehicle. |
| 22 | Issue of penalty charge notices, etc. on release or recovery of vehicle |
| (1) | This section applies in cases where— |
| (a) | a vehicle is released from an immobilisation device under subsection (4) of section 15 (preliminary procedure where ownership details not known) of this Act; |
| (b) | details are provided to a London authority in satisfaction of subsection (16) of the said section 15; or |
| (c) | a claimant takes possession of a vehicle under section 19 (taking possession of a vehicle) of this Act in circumstances where subsection (2) of that section apply. |
| (2) | The relevant person may, if he is satisfied that the claimant is the owner of the vehicle, serve on the claimant personally a penalty charge notice or (in NTO cases) a notice to owner in respect of each relevant outstanding penalty charge. |
| (3) | A London authority may serve a penalty charge notice or (in NTO cases) a notice to owner in respect of each relevant outstanding penalty charge on the person whose name is given as the owner of the vehicle to the relevant person under subsection (11) or (16) of the said section 15 or subsection (2) or (7) of the said section 19 at the address given under the subsection in question. |
| (4) | A notice served under subsection (2) or (3) above shall, for the purposes of the enactment in respect of which the relevant outstanding penalty charge in question arose be deemed to have been issued or served in compliance with that enactment (including in compliance with any time limits under the enactment). |
| (5) | A penalty charge in respect of which a notice is served under subsection (2) or (3) above— |
| (a) | ceases to be outstanding as described in subsection (4)(b) of section 14 (interpretation of Part 5) of this Act; but |
| (b) | may become outstanding as described in subsections (4)(a), (5) and(6) of that section. |
| (6) | If a penalty charge does become outstanding again as mentioned in subsection (5) above, then— |
| (a) | the procedure in section 16 (preliminary procedure in other cases) of this Act may apply in respect of the outstanding penalty charge; and |
| (b) | the penalty charge notice or notice to owner in question shall count for the purposes of subsection (1)(c) of that section. |
"relevant person" means—
| (a) | an authorised person who releases a vehicle or directs another person to release the vehicle from an immobilisation device in accordance with subsection (10) of the said section 15; or |
| (b) | a custodian from whom a vehicle is taken possession under subsection (1) of the said section 19, in the case where the conditions of subsection (2) of that section have been satisfied, |
"claimant" means a claimant for the purposes of the said section 15 or section 19, as the case may be.
| 23 | Representations and appeals |
Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect with respect to representations against penalty charge notices and appeals, and other matters supplementary to the provisions of this Part of this Act.
| 24 | Levels of penalty charges, financial provisions, etc. |
| (1) | Paragraph 2 of Schedule 9 to the 2004 Act shall apply in relation to the levels of penalty charges and other charges under this Part of this Act as they apply in relation to the levels of charges to which that Schedule applies. |
| (2) | Until such time as regulations are made as are described in subsection (3) below, Schedule 2 to the Act of 2003 shall have effect as though the reference, in paragraph 1, to income and expenditure included income and expenditure in respect of this Part of this Act (including income from penalty charges and other charges and expenditure on administration and enforcement). |
| (3) | Regulations under section 88 of the 2004 Act may make provision about— |
| (a) | the keeping of accounts and the preparation and publication of statements of account, of the income and expenditure of London authorities in connection with their functions under this Part of this Act; and |
| (b) | as to the purposes for which any surpluses may be applied. |
| (4) | In determining, for the purposes of any provision of this Act, whether a penalty charge has been paid before the end of a particular period, it shall be taken to be paid when it is received by the London authority concerned. |
Before the appointed day, the London authorities shall publish guidance about the exercise of their functions under this Part of this Act and the London authorities shall have regard to the guidance in exercising those functions.
Part 6
Miscellaneous
| 26 | Fixed penalties under the Act of 2003 |
Section 9 (fixed penalty notices) of the Act of 2003 is amended as follows—
| (a) | in subsection (2)(a), for "14 days" there is substituted "28 days"; |
| (b) | in subsection (3), the following paragraph is inserted before the word "and" at the end of paragraph (b)— |
| "(ba) | that if the fixed penalty is paid before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the notice, the amount of the fixed penalty will be reduced by the specified proportion;"; |
| (c) | after subsection (7), the following subsection is inserted— |
| (a) | "chief finance officer" in relation to a borough council or Transport for London means the person having responsibility for the financial affairs of the council or Transport for London, as the case may be; |
| (b) | "specified proportion" means such proportion, applicable in all cases, as may be determined for the purposes of this section by the borough councils acting through the Joint Committee as defined in section 4(16) of this Act.". |
| 27 | Minor amendments to the Act of 2003 |
The Act of 2003 is amended as follows—
| (a) | in subsection (10) of section 4 (penalty charges for road traffic contraventions), for "appointing authorities" there is substituted "the borough councils and Transport for London"; |
| (b) | in subsection (1) of section 16 (vehicle crossings over footways and verges) for the words from "the relevant authority" to the end of the subsection there is substituted "the relevant authority may serve a notice requiring the occupier, within the period specified in the notice (being no sooner than 28 days from the date on which the notice is served), to cease taking or permitting to be taken mechanically propelled vehicles across the kerbed footway or verge."; |
| (c) | in subsections (4)(c)(ii) and (9)(b) of the said section 16 for "the council" there is substituted "the authority"; |
| (d) | in subsection (7) of section 17 (removal of things deposited on the highway)— |
| (i) | for "If the highway authority proceed under this subsection, no sooner" there is substituted "No later"; |
| (ii) | for "they shall" there is substituted "the highway authority shall"; |
| (e) | in subsection (14) of the said section 17, for "removing it", in both places where those words appear, there is substituted "removing, storing and disposing of it"; |
| (f) | in subsection (19)(a) of the said section 17, for "subsection (1)" there is substituted "subsection (2)". |
Part 7
Supplemental
| 28 | Liability of directors, etc. |
| (1) | Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of the offence. |
| (2) | Where the affairs of the body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) above shall apply to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate. |
Section 7 (recovery of unpaid penalty charges) of the London Local Authorities Act 1995 (c. x) is repealed.
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