England & Wales

Joe takes a taxi. The cost of the ride is £15 and Joe hands the driver a (genuine) Bank of England £50 note. The driver refuses to accept the note because he doesn't trust 50s. Joe refuses to pay with anything else and says the driver can take the note or not, but he is now going to leave. Joe refuses to give the driver any contact details and starts to walk away. Has Joe made off without payment? My understanding is that if Joe has tried to pay the £15 in legal tender and the driver has refused to accept it then there is no offence. Even if he left his details, as I understand it the driver couldn't successfully sue to recover the debt under those circu…

I'm sure most of us have seen the video of the two cars refusing to move for each other, and blocking an ambulance with a sick patient on board from getting past. There are many, many examples of this on youtube and other video sites. Should an officer come across something like the above, what can be done about it? We have the power to arrest for obstruct police, but that doesn't apply to the intentional obstruction of ambo/fire. Obviously, a necessity for arrest is to prevent blocking of a highway, but you'd need something to arrest for in the first place. So, is there any legislation that can be utilised to deal with emergency service obstruction?

I'm wondering what power a constable has in relation to seizing vehicles used in the commission of crime. Where I work, we've had a number of theft of stone (coping stones, flag stones, top stones etc.) we identified an offender who was using a van to commit these offences. We located his vehicle and seized it as it's being used in the commission of crime. What power, other than S.19 PACE is there to seize a vehicle which is used in commission of crime, namely theft. I've looked up various bit of legislation for seizing vehicles but nothing that fits the above.

Hi all, I am noticing a rising issue relating to the sheer number of people who feel the need to remove their front registration plate on their vehicles; some place the plates in a window other's don't even bother and just have the back plate attached... We are talking about particularly run of the mill cars here and the look certainly isn't spoiled by a registration plate; no fancy sports cars/vintage cars etc. Anyway it's irritating me so much with it being a common trend; so much so that I intend to start doing something about it - In future I will be stopping all drivers doing this and checking out the VIN etc; I would also like to give these drivers a …

There being no current keeper on a vehicle is often a good indicator that it's worth a stop, but I'm curious whether failing to register a vehicle you own in your name is an offence in itself? Having read the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act I know that failing to notify the DVLA that you've sold a vehicle is an offence but what about if you've bought a car, the previous owner has told the DVLA they no longer own it but not who they sold it to and so you continue driving around with it MOT'd and insured but still showing as in trade?

Legal Disclaimer This area of the forum is intended for members to seek advice on Law and Police Procedures applicable to England & Wales. Just like you would pop into your local police station to should the need arise. Any advice on a specific area of law is from either currently-serving UK police officers, and is offered to the best of their ability, or from members of the public who are perhaps aspiring to be serving police officers and may not hold the necessary level of knowledge to provide such assistance or by any other member who may offer their opinion. Either way such advice can only be treated as an opinion and nothing more. Members should look for the Ve…

Legal Disclaimer This area of the forum is intended for members to seek advice on Law and Police Procedures applicable to England & Wales. Just like you would pop into your local police station to should the need arise. Any advice on a specific area of law is from either currently-serving UK police officers, and is offered to the best of their ability, or from members of the public who are perhaps aspiring to be serving police officers and may not hold the necessary level of knowledge to provide such assistance or by any other member who may offer their opinion. Either way such advice can only be treated as an opinion and nothing more. Members should look for the Ve…

I have spent the last two nights looking all over for a solid answer but to no avail. I am currently studying for the CKP and have completed robbery (I have studied this topic before when studying law). An example used in the official COP student notes states that when a suspect approaches a husband and wife in the street, holds a knife to the wife's throat and says to the husband "Give me your money or else I'll stab her", this would not equate to robbery, because a person cannot fear force being inflicted on another person. It then goes on to say that if a cut was made to the wife's throat, this would be a robbery because force can be used on any person. It was my …