Public Order Act 2023

4 Offence of causing serious disruption by being present in a tunnel

(1) A person commits an offence if—

(a) they are present in a relevant tunnel having entered it after the coming into force of this section,

(b) their presence in the tunnel causes, or is capable of causing, serious disruption to—

(i) two or more individuals, or

(ii) an organisation,

in a place other than a dwelling, and

(c) they intend their presence in the tunnel to have a consequence mentioned in paragraph (b) or are reckless as to whether their presence there will have such a consequence.

(2) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for their presence in the tunnel.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), a person (“P”) is to be treated as having a reasonable excuse for the purposes of that subsection if P’s presence in the tunnel was authorised by a person with an interest in land which entitled them to authorise P’s presence there.

(4) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court, to a fine or to both;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, to a fine or to both.

(5) For the purposes of this section—

(a) “tunnel” means an excavation that extends beneath land, whether or not it leads to a particular destination;

(b) an excavation which is created with the intention that it will become or connect with a tunnel is to be treated as a tunnel, whether or not any tunnel with which it is intended to connect has already been created.

(6) In this section “relevant tunnel” means a tunnel that was created for the purposes of, or in connection with, a protest (and it does not matter whether an offence has been committed under section 3 in relation to the creation of the tunnel).

(7) References in this section to the creation of an excavation include—

(a) the extension or enlargement of an excavation, and

(b) the alteration of a natural or artificial underground feature.

(8) This section does not apply in relation to a tunnel if or to the extent that it is in or under a dwelling.

(9) In this section “dwelling” has the same meaning as in section 1 (offence of locking on).