The Railways Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

PART V MISCELLANEOUS

Statutory authority to run trains

19.  Any international grouping or railway undertaking granted access or transit rights under these Regulations shall, if and to the extent that it would not, apart from this regulation, have statutory authority to run trains over any track in exercise of such rights, be taken to have statutory authority to do so.

International groupings and railway undertakings granted access or transit rights not to be common carriers

20.  International groupings and railway undertakings granted access or transit rights under these Regulations shall not in relation to the provision of international services in exercise of those rights be regarded as common carriers by railway.

International groupings

21.  In the event of a contravention of, or a refusal or failure to comply with, a requirement or prohibition imposed by these Regulations on an international grouping –

(a) where the contravention, or refusal or failure to comply would be an offence under these Regulations or under the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(1) each railway undertaking comprised in the grouping shall be guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly; and

(b) where a civil remedy would be available to any person in respect of any loss, damage or injury caused by the contravention, or refusal or failure to comply, each railway undertaking comprised in the grouping shall be jointly and severally liable in respect of such loss, damage or injury.

Civil proceedings

22.—(1) The obligation to comply with regulation 4, paragraph (1) of regulation 5, paragraph (2) of regulation 6, paragraph (2) of regulation 7, paragraph (3) of regulation 8, paragraphs (11) and (13) of regulation 9 (including those paragraphs as applied by paragraph (5) of regulation 10), a decision under paragraph (9) or direction under paragraph (10) of regulation 12, or the rules specified in Schedule 1 shall be a duty owed to any person who may be affected by a breach of that duty and shall be actionable by any such person who sustains loss, damage or injury caused by the breach at the suit or instance of that person.

(2) In any proceedings brought against the NI allocation body, infrastructure manager, international grouping or railway undertaking in pursuance of paragraph (1), it shall be defence for it to prove that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the breach of duty.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), without prejudice to the right that any person may have by virtue of paragraph (1) to bring civil proceedings in respect of any breach of duty, the obligation to comply shall be enforceable by civil proceedings by the Department for an injunction or any other relief.

(4) Paragraph (3) does not apply to any breach of duty arising out of the obligation to comply with paragraph (3) of regulation 8.

Making of false statements etc.

23.—(1) If any person, in giving any information or making any application under or for the purposes of any provision of these Regulations, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, he is guilty of an offence and shall be liable –

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

(2) No proceedings shall be instituted in Northern Ireland in respect of an offence under this regulation except by or with the consent of the Department or the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Offences by bodies corporate

24.—(1) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a body corporate and it is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any 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 that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) shall apply in relation 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.

Offences outside the United Kingdom

25.—(1) For the purpose of determining whether a breach of the duty imposed by regulation 4 has occurred, it is immaterial that the relevant acts or omissions occurred outside the United Kingdom if, when they occurred, the person –

(a) was a United Kingdom national, or

(b) was a body incorporated under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, or

(c) was a person (other than a United Kingdom national or such a body) maintaining a place of business in the United Kingdom.

(2) In this regulation “United Kingdom national” means an individual who is –

(a) a British citizen, a British Dependent Territories citizen, a British National (Overseas) or a British Overseas citizen;

(b) a person who under the British Nationality Act 1981(2) is a British subject, or

(c) a British protected person (within the meaning of that Act).

(1)

S.I. 1978/1039 (N.I. 9)

(2)

1981 c. 61