Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 16 June (HL4922), what plans they have to enable the submission of photographic evidence by (1) local authorities, and (2) local action groups, of any abuse of weight restriction orders.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Cases on Weight Restriction Orders are heard in the Magistrates Courts. Prosecutors are entitled to submit photographic evidence to the court, provided it is relevant and its source can be proved. This is in accordance with existing rules of evidence of long standing. It is a matter for the individual prosecutors (whether police forces or local authorities) whether they choose to call witnesses to present photographic evidence to a court of trial.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 5 May (HL3178), how many offences related to the abuse of weight restriction orders have been enforced by the police through the courts in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes, up to December 2019, which is available in the Home Office principle offence code data tool, available here:
Offences specifically relating to vehicle weight restriction offences are not specifically identifiable from within existing offence categories. This information may be held on court record but to be able to identify these cases we would have to access individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.