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#Post#: 89928--------------------------------------------------
Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: Yess_shaam Date: September 14, 2025, 3:02 pm
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Offence has been allegedly committed ‘drove a motor vehicle on
a named road, otherwise than in accordance with a licence
authorising you to drive a motor vehicle of that class.’ As the
alleged offence was on a tesco car park and not a road is this
enough for a non guilty verdict?
#Post#: 89942--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: BertB Date: September 15, 2025, 3:24 am
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No
#Post#: 89948--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: disgruntchelt Date: September 15, 2025, 4:14 am
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There is a case that found a pub car park wasn’t a public
space when the pub was closed and the defendant in that case got
off.
Was Tesco open at the time?
#Post#: 89974--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: Freecall Date: September 15, 2025, 5:57 am
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There is shed-loads of case law on this issue. I'm afraid that
a Tesco car park is not even marginal, it is definitely a public
place for RTA purposes.
#Post#: 89993--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: NewJudge Date: September 15, 2025, 7:08 am
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[quote]I'm afraid that a Tesco car park is not even marginal, it
is definitely a public place for RTA purposes.[/quote]
But the Road Traffic Act does not mention "public places" for
the purposes of requiring a licence:
87. Drivers of motor vehicles to have driving licences.
(1)It is an offence for a person to drive on a road a motor
vehicle of any class otherwise than in accordance with a licence
authorising him to drive a motor vehicle of that class.
#Post#: 90040--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: Yess_shaam Date: September 15, 2025, 10:31 am
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Yes it was open at the time.
#Post#: 90075--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: Southpaw82 Date: September 15, 2025, 1:24 pm
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As a rule of thumb, the “roads” around a car park (as opposed to
the parking bays) can indeed be a road.
#Post#: 90077--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: Freecall Date: September 15, 2025, 1:27 pm
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[quote author=NewJudge link=topic=8053.msg89993#msg89993
date=1757938097]
But the Road Traffic Act does not mention "public places" for
the purposes of requiring a licence:
87. Drivers of motor vehicles to have driving licences.
(1)It is an offence for a person to drive on a road a motor
vehicle of any class otherwise than in accordance with a licence
authorising him to drive a motor vehicle of that class.
[/quote]
You are correct of course but I was trying to avoid the 'but it
isn't a road' response.
As I am sure you are aware, the word 'road' has been widely
interpreted by the courts to be any place to which the public
has access.
That has then ben tested for what the term 'public' means (does
it have to be available to absolutely anybody or just one
particular group for example) and for what the term 'access'
means (does it include where they have to pay for example).
A Tesco car park is well outside any of these subtleties.
....but I suspect that you already know all of that.
#Post#: 90079--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: andy_foster Date: September 15, 2025, 1:33 pm
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A road goes from one place to another.
#Post#: 90088--------------------------------------------------
Re: Driving without a license on a ‘road’
By: NewJudge Date: September 15, 2025, 3:11 pm
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[quote]…the word 'road' has been widely interpreted by the
courts to be any place to which the public has access.[/quote]
I’m not so sure. Not recently, anyway.
There is a clear distinction in the wording between that in s87
(the requirement for a licence) which mentions only “a road” and
that in s144 (the requirement for TP insurance) which mentions
“a road or other public place”.
Interestingly, the “other public place” extension was not added
to s144 until 2000. If the legislators had thought it necessary
to add it to s87 as well, they could have done so but didn't.
This seems to me to indicate that they believed there should be
a distinction between the two.
There may have been some interpretation of “a road” (for s144
offences) needed prior to that.
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