Taxation class dilema
- Thread starter BuzzLand
- Start date
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Is the vehicle exempt from road tax by virtue of the Vehicle Excise and
Registration Act 1994?
Schedule 2 to the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 identifies an ambulance as a vehicle which is
exempt from road tax; it defines an ambulance as:
A vehicle which:
(a) is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose than, the carriage of sick, injured or
disabled people to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given, and
(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such people by being marked
"Ambulance" on both sides.
Registration Act 1994?
Schedule 2 to the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 identifies an ambulance as a vehicle which is
exempt from road tax; it defines an ambulance as:
A vehicle which:
(a) is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose than, the carriage of sick, injured or
disabled people to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given, and
(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such people by being marked
"Ambulance" on both sides.
Shifty1962
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You can, and likely will, be arrested for refusing to give a police officer your name and address. You will need to be able to confirm these details by means of suitable ID such as a driving licence etc.
It falls under the "stop and account" section of the PACE act. It is a legal REQUIREMENT and not an optional request. If you refuse he has the power to arrest you for the purposes of establishing who your are. You can be locked up for upto 36 hours while they do this. He does not need any reason to require you to provide this information. How do I know? My brother is plod.
It falls under the "stop and account" section of the PACE act. It is a legal REQUIREMENT and not an optional request. If you refuse he has the power to arrest you for the purposes of establishing who your are. You can be locked up for upto 36 hours while they do this. He does not need any reason to require you to provide this information. How do I know? My brother is plod.
BuzzLand
Active Member
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Mostly agreed on that one.
It's pretty much a given that in a vehicle you are going to have to say who you are.
On foot it's a different story. As long as you've no id on you you can call yourself micky mouse.
36 hours? It must of gone up from when I first heard about it.
In front of a magistrate there'd be no charge to answer and you'd walk free.
The police can arrest, but getting that charge to stick is another matter
Standby to have DNA and prints taken though...
Shifty1962
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The "stop and account" legislation applies to anybody in a public place, or a place to which the public have free access (such as a private garden with an unlocked gate), at any time whether on foot or not. The reason for arrest would be to ascertain who you really are and the charge before the magistrate would be "willfully obstructing a constable". Its all there in black and white if you want to plough through the legislation.
Coppers love this section of PACE because it means they can pretty much arrest anybody and all they have to state to the custody officer is that they are unable to establish who the person is without further investigation. The 36 hours was reduced from 48 by the EU but they can hold you for upto 72 hours with a court order. The timings start from the moment of arrest.
Coppers love this section of PACE because it means they can pretty much arrest anybody and all they have to state to the custody officer is that they are unable to establish who the person is without further investigation. The 36 hours was reduced from 48 by the EU but they can hold you for upto 72 hours with a court order. The timings start from the moment of arrest.
shadowster
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well pikey what do you rekon
Pikey
Dummy Ejection Facilitator..
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The main situation where you have to give your name and address to the police is when they want to give you a summons for a non-arrestable offence (see our legal handbook for more details on this). This is when they do not have the powers to arrest you and take you down to the police station to be formally charged.
Section 25 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) states that the police can arrest you where they reasonably suspect that you have committed a non-arrestable offence, and serving you with a summons is inappropriate because they cannot establish your name and address or - in short - because they reasonably suspect that the details you have given are false.
You have two choices in this situation: either provide your details to the officer there and then, or refuse. How you play it depends on the circumstances. If you refuse to give your details you can be arrested and taken to a police station, but be aware that the police may well be bluffing simply to get your details. If you know the law, you will have some idea whether the police do reasonably suspect you or if they are just fishing for information. If they say they suspect you of an offence, you should ask them to state what the offence is this will make it easier for you to decide if they reasonably suspect you of the offence or not. If you are arrested under Section 25 PACE, the police must release you as soon as they have established your name and address.
If you do decide to give the police your name and address, they may still arrest you if they reasonably believe that the details you have given are not true. This is where they may ask you for some form of identification. There is no obligation to provide the police with ID, and the police can make various checks to establish this see next section.
3. Proof of Identity
Regardless of what the police may say, it is currently not illegal not to carry ID, though the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, is trying to change this under the spurious guise of preventing terrorism. This is a blatant infringement of your privacy, rights and only leads down the road to a fascist state. This is one situation where we really do encourage you to write to your MP and the Home Office voicing your objection to these plans. (For more information on campaigns against compulsory ID cards see www.no2id.net and www.defy-id.org.uk)
If you do provide details to the police, they may question their accuracy and demand proof. If the police have demanded your details under Section 25 PACE and they have reasonable suspicion that the details you have provided are not correct, then they have the power to arrest you in order to establish your name and address. What amounts to reasonable suspicion is unclear but any arrest must be justified and if the police cannot demonstrate reasonable suspicion, you could sue them afterwards for false imprisonment.
The police are often bluffing in these situations, and it's quite rare for them to arrest you even if you have no means to confirm your identity, unless they have genuine reason to believe that you are lying. It is not uncommon for the police to arrest you initially but then release you down the road when they realise you have called their bluff.
Even if you have no ID on you, the police can often establish your details by checking the electoral register or the Police National Computer. Nowadays they can check the Motor Insurance Database that gives them the name and address of the keeper of the vehicle. If your name comes up on one of these checks, then it will be hard for them to say that they reasonably believe the details you have given are false even if you cannot produce any ID.
Another method they sometimes use is to ask for the phone number of someone who can confirm your name and address. If you have no ID on you and you think you're going to be arrested, you can offer the phone number say of your solicitor who will confirm your identity. If the police refuse to phone them, it will be hard for them to argue later that they "reasonably suspected" that the details you gave were false, as a reasonable police officer would of course attempt to phone the solicitor.
Dont forget that although the police usually ask you for your address, Section 25 PACE states that they can only arrest you where they reasonably suspect that the address you provide is not satisfactory for the service of a summons. So if you give the phone number and address of a friend or solicitor who can confirm that they will receive a summons for you on your behalf, then the police cannot then say that they have reason to doubt that the address is satisfactory. Obviously this is something you would need to arrange in advance, but its worth remembering if youd rather not give your residential address to the police.
So in conclusion, stand up for yourself, and dont be bullied into giving details unnecessarily. When it comes to activism and activists, the police will arrest whenever they can. Thus, when all they do is demanding proof of ID, there is a very good chance that they are bluffing and that the real purpose of this is intelligence gathering.
Note: A police officer should be in uniform with a rank number, or if in plain clothes show a warrant card before they can start making demands.
4. Section 50 Police Reform Act 2002
A recent development in police attempts to gain activists details is the use of Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002. This makes it an offence to refuse to give your name and address to a police officer, where the officer reasonably suspects that you have engaged in anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour is defined as behaviour that has caused harassment, alarm or distress to other people, so its not difficult for the police to say that they suspect this in protest situations. Section 50 carries no specific power of arrest, but if you refuse to give your name and address, then the police can say that they suspect you of committing a non-arrestable offence and Section 25 PACE applies see Sections 2 and 3 above.
The use by the police of this power will at some stage be challenged in court, as it was not designed to deal with political protest but with anti-social behaviour, for example by youths on housing estates. But certain police forces - notably Staffordshire are currently using the power, and you should be aware that they could arrest you if you refuse to give details when required under this Section. There is no requirement under Section 50 to give your date of birth.
5. Car Drivers
A very common way of gathering intelligence is to get the names and addresses of car drivers. The police have the right to stop any vehicle and demand to see driving license, MOT and insurance documents. They may also demand that the driver give his name, address and date of birth. This is covered by section 164 and 165 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. However, as long as you produce the documents within seven days, or as soon as practicably possible thereafter, you have a defence and will not be prosecuted for an offence. If you do not have any of the documents, the police officer will normally give you a producer to show them at a police station of your choice.
If you cannot produce any of the above documents at the time the police ask for them, or if you refuse to give your name, address or date of birth, they can say that they reasonably suspect you of committing a non-arrestable offence. They may then threaten you with arrest under Section 25 of PACE on the grounds that they cannot establish your name and address see parts 2 and 3 above. Its quite rare for the police to do this in these situations, and you will normally simply get a producer, but activists should be aware that this power is available to the police.
Passengers are not required to give their names regardless of what the police say - they are not covered by the Road Traffic Act in this situation, and would only have to give their name and address if they were suspected of having committed some other non-arrestable offence eg not wearing a seat belt. If the police threaten to arrest you as a passenger for not giving your details, you should demand that they tell you the reason why, as the chances are that they are bluffing. If an activists car is known to the police, then there is often a note on the Police National Computer requesting that the officer discreetly obtains the identities of all its occupants. A local police force may also have a policy of doing this where there is a history of activism in its area.
A typical example of passengers being asked for their details is where you are on the way to a demo and the police pull over the vehicle you are travelling in and ask for the names and addresses of all its occupants. If it is obvious that this is just a standard pull, then passengers definitely do not have to give their details as the police have pulled you over simply to check you out rather than to investigate an offence.
6. Giving Date of Birth
The only time you ever have to give your date of birth is where you are the driver of a vehicle. You DO NOT have to give your date of birth where the police are threatening you with arrest under Section 25 PACE, and this includes situations where the police are using Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 (see above). We have emphasised this because whenever the police ask for your name and address they nearly always ask for your date of birth as well. You do not even have to give your date of birth if you have been arrested and charged.
Don't you need to permanantly need to display the words ambulance on the side of you Landy then?
