Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 02:55 19 Mar 2024
- Potholes leave nations' roads at 'breaking point'
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 tomorrow - WWRUG AGM
23/03/24 - Trains restart - Minehead
02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber

No 'On This Day' events reported for 19th Mar

Train RunningDelayed
02:24 Reading to London Paddington
PollsOpen and recent polls
Open to 25/03 16:00 Easter Escape - to where?
Closed 2024-03-16 Should our rail network go cashless
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 19, 2024, 03:14:32 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[99] Where would you recommend for an Easter Escape?
[99] More travels ... more looking at how others do it ...
[95] M25 motorway issue: a most illuminating Twitter thread.
[80] Briefing on forthcoming changes - from GWR on 14.3.2024
[51] Europeran Rail Timetable
[51] Improvements at three Berkshire stations
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: An Inspector Calls  (Read 854 times)
SandTEngineer
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3485


View Profile
« on: March 23, 2019, 22:08:54 »

Interesting item on the ORR» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) website: https://orr.gov.uk/news-and-media/orr-blog/2019/an-inspector-calls

Quote
An Inspector Calls 19 March 2019

Chloe Barton, ORR Legal Adviser, explains what happens when people defy Railway Inspectors.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Railways have wide-ranging powers granted by virtue of s.20 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. These powers include the right to demand that a dutyholder hands over documents for inspection when asked to do so.

In practice it is not common for an Inspector to have to use their s.20 powers. Most dutyholders and persons under investigation comply readily with requests to provide documents for inspection, to allow for photographs and measurements to be taken or to leave premises undisturbed for the purposes of inspection. ORR’s Inspectors hold warrant cards but they rarely have occasion to produce them.

Despite this we recently had to prosecute a dutyholder for contravening s.20, for the first time since the Office of Rail Regulation – ORR’s predecessor – came into being in 2004. An inspector wrote to a dutyholder asking for a document that was referred to in a defence expert report in an ongoing case but that had not been seen by ORR’s expert for the prosecution.

The request explicitly outlined the Inspector’s s.20 powers and warned that failure to comply could constitute a further criminal offence. But the reply from the dutyholder’s legal team was clear; the documents would not be provided and ORR were acting outside of their powers to request such documents.

Our day in court

So, on 6 February the matter was argued at Newcastle Crown Court and the Judge duly dismissed the dutyholder’s abuse of process argument, making it clear in his ruling that it was simply wrong to suggest that because the company had already been charged the investigation stage, and therefore the opportunity to rely on s.20 powers, was at an end. In failing to comply, the dutyholder demonstrated a degree of an obstruction of justice.

There is a continuing duty on an enforcing authority to investigate matters that point towards guilt, or away from it. Dutyholders will always have the opportunity to contest the admissibility of any evidence acquired under s.20, such opportunity exists under the well-known provisions of s.78 PACE» (Police & Criminal Evidence Act - about) 1984. However, where a request is made under s.20 the message is clear; comply or face prosecution. In this particular case the failure to comply cost the dutyholder the sum of £33,500 in a fine imposed by the Crown Court.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2019, 09:40:03 by SandTEngineer » Logged
jamestheredengine
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 301


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2019, 08:32:45 »

Looking at the court listings for Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court for 6 February suggests it may be this case:

06-02-2019   Newcastle-upon-Tyne   9   T20170858
T20181030
Db Cargo Uk Ltd
Details:   For Sentence - Case Started - 10:52
For Sentence - Case adjourned until 11:15 - 11:08
For Sentence - Resume - 11:29
For Sentence - Case adjourned until 14:00 - 12:59
For Sentence - Resume - 14:08
Logged

Oxonhutch
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1240



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2019, 09:25:33 »

From the title, I thought you were discussing J. B. Priestley's play 'An Inspector Calls'. My family was heavily into amateur dramatics and once, after a theatre run, performed the play in the local prison. The man playing the inspector was booed every time he came on stage  Cheesy. He got his applause at the end though with all the others.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page