Petroleum Act 1987

23 Safety zones: offences

(1) Where by virtue of this Act there is a safety zone around an installation, no vessel shall enter or remain in the zone except—

(a) in the case of a safety zone established by an order under section 22, in accordance with that order, or

(b) in that or any other case, in accordance with regulations made or a consent given by the Secretary of State.

(2) If a vessel enters or remains in a safety zone in contravention of subsection (1) then, subject to subsection (3), its owner and its master shall each be guilty of an offence and liable—

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

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

(3) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that the presence of the installation or the existence of the safety zone was not, and would not on reasonable enquiry have become, known to the master.

(4) Where the commission by any person of an offence under this section is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person shall also be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(5) Where an offence committed by a body corporate under this section 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 shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(6) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (5) shall apply in relation to acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(7) Proceedings for an offence under this section may be taken, and the offence may for all incidental purposes be treated as having been committed, in any place in the United Kingdom.

(8) In this section "vessel" includes a hovercraft, submersible apparatus (within the meaning of section 16(2) of the [1974 c. 43.] Merchant Shipping Act 1974) and an installation in transit; and "master"—

(a) in relation to a hovercraft, means the captain,

(b) in relation to submersible apparatus, means the person in charge of the apparatus, and

(c) in relation to an installation in transit, means the person in charge of the transit operation.