Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

False statements in connection with forgery of, and fraudulent use of, documents; issue of false insurance certificate and powers of seizure N.I.

174.—(1) A person shall be guilty of an offence under this Order who—

(a) in connection with an application for any licence or a goods vehicle certificate under the provisions of[F1 the Road Traffic Orders], knowingly makes a declaration which is false or is misleading in any material respect;

(b) being required by any provision of[F1 the Road Traffic Orders] or of any regulations made under[F1 the Road Traffic Orders] to furnish particulars in connection with any such application as aforesaid or otherwise in connection with any vehicle, knowingly furnishes particulars which are false or are misleading in any material respect;

(c) for the purpose of obtaining the issue of a certificate of insurance or a certificate of security under Article 92 or 93, knowingly makes a statement which is false, or withholds any material information;

(d) issues a certificate of insurance or certificate of security under Article 92 or 93 which he knows to be false in any material particular.

(2 )F2  F3 A person who forges, or fraudulently alters or uses, or fraudulently lends to, or allows to be used by, any other person, any mark for identifying a vehicle, any badge,[F4 any document which, in pursuance of Article 5(3), is issued as evidence of the result of a test of competence to drive,] any licence or goods vehicle certificate under[F1 the Road Traffic Orders], any certificate of insurance or certificate of security under Article 92 or 93,[F5 any certificate required as a condition of any exception prescribed under[F1 Article 23 of the Order of 1995][F6 or a certificate of a kind referred to in Article 37(1) of the Offenders Order]] or a certificate prescribed by regulations under Article 132 or produces any document as evidence of insurance in pursuance of Regulation 6 of the European Communities (Motor Vehicles: Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1973 [SRO 1973/448] shall be guilty of an offence under this Order.

(3) If a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary has reason to believe that a certificate of insurance or a certificate of security or a driving licence or a provisional licence[F4 or a document issued in pursuance of Article 5(3) as evidence of the result of a test of competence to drive] produced to him under[F4 this Order] by the driver of a motor vehicle is a document in relation to which an offence has been committed under this Article, he may seize the document; when the document is seized under this Article the person from whom it was taken shall, unless the document has been previously returned to him or he has been previously charged with an offence under this Article, be summoned before a magistrates' court to account for his possession of the document, and the court shall make such order respecting the disposal of the document and award such costs as the justice of the case may require.

(4) Where in any proceedings under this Article any question arises as to the number of vehicles used, or as to the character, weight or horsepower of any vehicle, or as to the number of persons seated by a vehicle, or as to the purpose for which any vehicle has been used, the burden of proof in respect of the matter in question shall lie on the accused person.

(5) In this Article “certificate of insurance” and “certificate of security” include any document issued under regulations made by the Department under Article 103 which prescribe the evidence which may be produced in lieu of a certificate of insurance or a certificate of security.

[F7 (6) In paragraph (3), “driving licence” means a licence to drive under Part II[F8 , a Great Britain licence] or a Community licence or counterpart of any such licences and “counterpart” and “Community licence” have the same meanings as in Part II.]

F1 1995 NI 18

F2 mod. by SR 1989/238

F3 mod. by SR 1994/365

F4 1998 NI 7

F5 1982 NI 3

F6 1996 NI 10

F7 SR 1996/426

F8 2003 NI 16