# Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 (Repealed 1.9.1994), Section 22: Failure to fix, and obscuration of, marks and signs.

Extent: E+W

(1) If any mark to be fixed . . . on a vehicle in accordance with section 19 . . . of this Act is not so fixed . . ., the person driving the vehicle, or, where the vehicle is not being driven, the person keeping the vehicle, shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that it shall be a defence for a person charged under this subsection with failing to fix a mark on a vehicle to prove—
(a) that he had no reasonable opportunity of registering the vehicle under this Act and that the vehicle was being driven on a public road for the purpose of being so registered; or
(b) in a case where the charge relates to a vehicle to which section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 applies by virtue of subsection (2)(b) thereof (vehicles manufactured before the prescribed period and used before registration), that he had no reasonable opportunity of so registering the vehicle and that the vehicle was being driven on a road for the purposes of or in connection with its examination under section 45 of the said Act of 1988 (examination for test certificates) in circumstances in which its use is exempted from the said section 47(1) by regulations under section 47(6) thereof.
(2) If any mark fixed . . . on a vehicle as aforesaid is in any way obscured or rendered or allowed to become not easily distinguishable, the person driving the vehicle, or, where the vehicle is not being driven, the person keeping the vehicle, shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that it shall be a defence for a person charged with such an offence to prove that he took all steps reasonably practicable to prevent the mark . . . being obscured or rendered not easily distinguishable.
(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction—
(a) if it is his first conviction of such an offence, to a fine not exceeding £20level three on the standard scale;
(b) in any other case, to a fine not exceeding £50.
(4) In its application to Northern Ireland, subsection (1) above shall have effect as if for paragraph (b) of the proviso there were substituted the following paragraph—
“(b) in a case where the charge relates to a vehicle to which Article 34 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 applies by virtue of paragraph (2)(b) thereof, that he had no reasonable opportunity of so registering the vehicle and that the vehicle was being driven on a road for the purposes of or in connection with its examination under Article 33 of the said Order of 1981 in circumstances in which its use is exempted from paragraph (1) of the said Article 34 by regulations under paragraph (5) thereof.””

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/10/section/22 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/vehicles-excise-act-1971-repealed-191994/section-22
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.