(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, no driver shall drive a vehicle to which this Part of this Act applies unless—
(a)there is installed in the vehicle in the prescribed place and manner equipment for recording information as to the use of the vehicle, being equipment of such type or design as may be prescribed or approved by the Minister for the purposes of this section; and
(b)that equipment is in working order.
(2)Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to—
(a)a small goods vehicle as defined in section 103(6) of this Act; or
(b)a vehicle of any class exempted from that subsection by regulations made by the Minister;
and paragraph (b) of that subsection shall not apply in such cases as may be specified by regulations made by the Minister.
(3)The Minister may make regulations—
(a)imposing on the owner and driver of any vehicle in which equipment is installed for the purposes of this section, and the employer of an employee-driver, duties—
(i)as to the working of the equipment and for preventing misuse thereof;
(ii)as to any keys or other appliances used in connection with the equipment, including the keeping and preservation of records in connection with such keys or appliances;
(b)imposing on the owner of any vehicle in which equipment is installed for the purposes of this section duties as to the preservation of any records produced by means of the equipment.
(4)Any person who—
(a)contravenes subsection (1) of this section; or
(b)being the employer of any other person, or a person to whose orders any other person is subject, causes or permits that other person to contravene that subsection ; or
(c)contravenes any regulations made under subsection (3) of this section,
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200 ; but a person shall not be liable to be convicted by virtue of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection by reason of a contravention of subsection (1)(b) of this section if he proves to the court that the equipment in the vehicle in question ceased to be in working order in the course of a journey being undertaken by that vehicle, that neither he nor (if a different person) the driver of the vehicle was responsible for the equipment ceasing to be in working order and that the journey was not continued after it had become reasonably practicable in all the circumstances for the equipment to be restored to working order.
(5)A record produced by means of equipment installed for the purposes of this section in any vehicle shall, in any proceedings under this Part of this Act, be evidence of the matters appearing from the record.