Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987

36 Offences. E+W+S

(1) Subject to subsections (2), (5) and (6) below, if—

(a) spectators are admitted to a regulated stand at a sports ground on an occasion when no safety certificate which covers their use of the stand is in operation for it, or

(b) any term or condition of a safety certificate for a regulated stand at a sports ground is contravened,

any responsible person and, if a safety certificate is in operation, the holder of the certificate, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) No offence under subsection (1)(a) above is committed if—

(a) the determination that the stand is a regulated stand is not a final one, or

(b) an application has been made for a general safety certificate for the stand and has not been withdrawn or deemed to have been withdrawn.

(3) In subsection (1) above “responsible person” means the person who is concerned in the management of the sports ground or of the regulated stand in question or in the organisation of any activity taking place at the ground at the time when an offence is alleged to have been committed.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above shall be liable—

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

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

(5) Where any person is charged with an offence under subsection (1) above it shall be a defence to prove—

(a) that the spectators were admitted or the contravention of the certificate in question took place without his consent; and

(b) that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by himself or any person under his control.

(6) Where any person is charged as a responsible person with an offence under subsection (1)(a) above it shall be a defence to prove that he did not know of the determination that the stand in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed is a regulated stand.

(7) Any person who—

(a) in purporting to carry out a requirement under section 28(11) above or for the purpose of procuring a safety certificate or the cancellation, amendment, replacement or transfer of a safety certificate, knowingly or recklessly makes a false statement or knowingly or recklessly produces, furnishes, signs or otherwise makes use of a document containing a false statement; or

(b) fails to give a notice required by section 32(1) above; or

(c) intentionally obstructs any person in the exercise of powers under section 35 above, or without reasonable excuses refuses, neglects or otherwise fails to answer any question asked by any person in the exercise of such powers,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(8) Where an offence under this Part which has been 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 that capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(9) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (8) 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.