Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000

This section applies only if—

a police officer gives a type 1 vehicle related offence notice to a person under section 755; and

the person given the notice does not give a statutory declaration as required under that section within the time required under that section.

The person is taken to have been the driver of the motor vehicle involved in the relevant type 1 vehicle related offence even though the actual offender may have been someone else.

If the actual offender is someone else, subsection (2) does not affect the liability of the actual offender, but the person and the actual offender can not both be punished for the offence.

In a proceeding for the relevant type 1 vehicle related offence, started against the person because of this section, it is a defence for the person to prove, on the balance of probabilities that the person was not the driver of the motor vehicle involved in the offence when the offence happened.

However, the person may not rely on evidence in the defence that is information the person was required to include in the statutory declaration under section 755A unless—

the person gives the prosecuting authority a notice of the person’s intention to seek leave to rely on the evidence at least 21 business days before the day the hearing of the proceeding starts; and

the court grants the person leave to rely on the evidence.

The notice under subsection (5)(a) must—

be in the approved form; and

state the grounds on which the person intends to rely to seek leave; and

be accompanied by a statutory declaration that includes the information the person was required to include in the statutory declaration under section 755A.

The court may grant the person leave under subsection (5)(b) only if the court is satisfied—

the person had a reasonable excuse for not giving the statutory declaration as required under section 755(2)(b); or

the evidence came to the person’s knowledge more than 14 business days after the person was given the type 1 vehicle related offence notice; or

the interests of justice require that the person be able to rely on the evidence.

Subsection (9) applies for a proceeding mentioned in subsection (4) for a type 1 vehicle related offence that is an offence against section 754(2) with a circumstance of aggravation under section 754(3) or the Criminal Code, section 328A.

The court may grant leave to the person to rely on evidence in the defence that is information the person was required to include in a statutory declaration under section 755A, even if the person has not complied with subsection (5)(a), if the interests of justice require that the person be able to rely on the evidence.

Subsection (11) applies if a statutory declaration, accompanying a notice given to the prosecuting authority under subsection (5)(a), includes information that enables the identification of another person as the actual offender.

The period of limitation within which a proceeding for the relevant type 1 vehicle related offence may be started against the actual offender starts on the day the prosecuting authority receives the statutory declaration.

Subsection (11) provides some other time limit for making complaint for the purposes of the Justices Act 1886, section 52.

In this section—prosecuting authority, for a proceeding, means the entity responsible for prosecuting the proceeding.relevant type 1 vehicle related offence means the type 1 vehicle related offence to which the type 1 vehicle related offence notice relates.