Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994

31C Penalties for offences under section 31A U.K.

(1) A person guilty of an offence under section 31A(1) is liable on summary conviction to—

(a) an excise penalty of—

(i) level 3 on the standard scale, or

(ii) five times the amount of vehicle excise duty chargeable in respect of the vehicle concerned,

whichever is the greater; and

(b) if subsection (3) applies to him, an excise penalty (in addition to any under paragraph (a)) of an amount that complies with subsection (2).

(2) An amount complies with this subsection if it—

(a) is not less than the greater of—

(i) the maximum of the penalty to which the person is liable under subsection (1)(a), and

(ii) the amount of the supplement (if any) that became payable by him by reason of non-renewal of the vehicle licence for the vehicle that last expired before the commission of the offence; and

(b) is not more than the greatest of—

(i) the maximum of the penalty to which the person is liable under subsection (1)(a),

(ii) the amount mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii), and

(iii) ten times the amount of vehicle excise duty chargeable in respect of the vehicle.

(3) This subsection applies to the person if—

(a) he was, at the time proceedings for the offence were commenced, the person in whose name the vehicle concerned was registered under this Act, and

(b) that vehicle was unlicensed throughout the period beginning with the commission of the offence and ending with the commencement of those proceedings.

(4) The amount of vehicle excise duty chargeable in respect of a vehicle is to be taken for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) to be an amount equal to the annual rate of duty applicable to the vehicle at the date on which the offence was committed.

(5) Where in the case of a vehicle kept (but not used) on a public road that annual rate differs from the annual rate by reference to which the vehicle was at that date chargeable under section 2(3) to (6), the amount of the vehicle excise duty chargeable in respect of the vehicle is to be taken for those purposes to be an amount equal to the latter rate.

(6) In the case of a conviction for a continuing offence, the offence is to be taken for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) to have been committed on the date or latest date to which the conviction relates.

(7) In this section, references to the expiry of a vehicle licence include a reference to—

(a) its surrender, and

(b) its being treated as no longer in force for the purposes of subsection (2) of section 31A by subsection (4) of that section.