# Road Traffic Act 1972, Paragraph 1


(1) A person against whom proceedings are brought in England or Wales for an offence under section 33 of this Act (hereinafter referred to as " the principal section ") shall, upon information duly laid by him and on giving to the prosecution not less than three clear days' notice of his intention, be entitled to have any person to whose act or default he alleges that the contravention of that section was due brought before the court in the proceedings; and if, after the contravention has been proved, the original accused proves that the contravention was due to the act or default of that other person, that other person may be convicted of the offence, and, if the original accused further proves that he has used all due diligence to secure that that section was complied with, he shall be acquitted of the offence.
(2) Where an accused seeks to avail himself of the provisions of sub-paragraph (1) above—
(a) the prosecution, as well as the person whom the accused charges with the offence, shall have the right to cross-examine him, if he gives evidence, and any witness called by him in support of his pleas, and to call rebutting evidence;
(b) the court may make such order as it thinks fit for the payment of costs by any party to the proceedings to any other party thereto.
(3) Where it appears that an offence under the principal section has been committed in respect of which proceedings might be taken in England or Wales against some person (hereinafter referred to as " the original offender"), and a person proposing to take proceedings in respect of the offence is reasonably satisfied that the offence of which complaint is made was due to an act or default of some other person, being an act or default which took place in England or Wales, and that the original offender could establish a defence under sub-paragraph (1) above, the proceedings may be taken against that other person without proceedings' first being taken against the original offender.
In any such proceedings the accused may be charged with, and on proof that the contravention was due to his act or default be convicted of, the offence with which the original offender might have been charged.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/20/schedule/1/paragraph/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/road-traffic-act-1972/schedule-1/paragraph-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.