Part VII Miscellaneous and General
Powers of constables and other authorised persons
164 Power of constables to require production of driving licence and in certain cases statement of date of birth.
(1)
Any of the following persons—
(a)
a person driving a motor vehicle on a road,
(b)
a person whom a constable F1or vehicle examiner has reasonable cause to believe to have been the driver of a motor vehicle at a time when an accident occurred owing to its presence on a road,
(c)
a person whom a constable F1or vehicle examiner has reasonable cause to believe to have committed an offence in relation to the use of a motor vehicle on a road, or
(d)
a person—
(i)
who supervises the holder of a provisional licence while the holder is driving a motor vehicle on a road, or
(ii)
whom a constable F1or vehicle examiner has reasonable cause to believe was supervising the holder of a provisional licence while driving, at a time when an accident occurred owing to the presence of the vehicle on a road or at a time when an offence is suspected of having been committed by the holder of the provisional licence in relation to the use of the vehicle on a road,
must, on being so required by a constable F1or vehicle examiner, produce his licence F2and its counterpart for examination, so as to enable the constable F1or vehicle examiner to ascertain the name and address of the holder of the licence, the date of issue, and the authority by which F3they were issued.
(2)
F4A person required by a constable under subsection (1) above to produce his licence must in prescribed circumstances, on being so required by the constable, state his date of birth.
(3)
If—
F5(a)
the Secretary of State has—
(i)
revoked a licence under section F692, 93 or 99 of this Act, or
(ii)
revoked or suspended a large goods vehicle driver’s licence or a passenger-carrying vehicle driver’s licence under section 115 of this Act, andF7or
(iii)
served notice requiring the delivery of a licence to him in pursuance of section 99C F8, 109B or 115A of this Act,
(b)
(4)
Where a constable has reasonable cause to believe that the holder of a licence, or any other person, has knowingly made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining the grant of the licence, the constable may require the holder of the licence to produce it F17and its counterpart to him.
F18(4A)
Where a constable to whom a provisional licence has been produced by a person driving a motor bicycle has reasonable cause to believe that the holder was not driving it as part of the training being provided on a training course for motor cyclists, the constable may require him to produce the prescribed certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists.
(5)
Where a person has been required under F19section 26 or 27 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 F20section 40B of the Child Support Act 1991F21, section 40 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997, section 146 or 147 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 or section 223A or 436A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 to produce a licence F22and its counterpart to the court and fails to do so, a constable may require him to produce F23them and, upon F23their being produced, may seize F23them and deliver F23them to the court.
(6)
If a person required under the preceding provisions of this section to produce a licence F24and its counterpart or state his date of birth F25or to produce his certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists. . . fails to do so he is, subject to subsections (7) F26to (8A) below, guilty of an offence.
(7)
Subsection (6) above does not apply where a person required on any occasion under the preceding provisions of this section to produce a licence F27and its counterpart—
(a)
produces on that occasion a current receipt for the licence F28and its counterpart issued under section 56 of the M1Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and, if required to do so, produces the licence F28and its counterpart in person immediately on F29their return at a police station that was specified on that occasion, or
(8)
In proceedings against any person for the offence of failing to produce a licence F32and its counterpart it shall be a defence for him to show that—
(a)
(b)
he produced F33them in person there as soon as was reasonably practicable, or
(c)
it was not reasonably practicable for him to produce F33them there before the day on which the proceedings were commenced,
and for the purposes of this subsection the laying of the information or, in Scotland, the service of the complaint on the accused shall be treated as the commencement of the proceedings.
F35(8A)
Subsection (8) above shall apply in relation to a certificate of completion of a training course for motor cyclists as it applies in relation to a licence.
(9)
Where in accordance with this section a person has stated his date of birth to a constable, the Secretary of State may serve on that person a notice in writing requiring him to provide the Secretary of State—
(a)
with such evidence in that person’s possession or obtainable by him as the Secretary of State may specify for the purpose of verifying that date, and
(b)
if his name differs from his name at the time of his birth, with a statement in writing specifying his name at that time,
and a person who knowingly fails to comply with a notice under this subsection is guilty of an offence.
(10)
A notice authorised to be served on any person by subsection (9) above may be served on him by delivering it to him or by leaving it at his proper address or by sending it to him by post; and for the purposes of this subsection and section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 M2 in its application to this subsection the proper address of any person shall be his latest address as known to the person giving the notice.
F36(11)
In this section—
“licence” means a licence under Part III of this Act F37, a Northern Ireland licenceor a Community licence,
“vehicle examiner” means an examiner appointed under section 66A of this Act;
and “Community licence”, “counterpart”,F38“Northern Ireland licence”,“provisional licence”, “training course for motor cyclists” and, in relation to such a course, “the prescribed certificate of completion” have the same meanings as in Part III of this Act.