England & Wales

I've come across the following details relating to driving a minibus on a driving licence that doesn't specifically have a D1 category. www.dvlni.gov.uk/drivers/no_D1.htm Essentially it says that for people operating in the voluntary sector (clubs, youth groups etc) it is possible to drive a minbus despite not having the category (D1) explicitly on your licence. I'm not sure if this is specific to NI but as there's no NI section thought I'd ask here. This seems unusual - is this generally well known or has anyone come across it before?

This story that is hitting the heatlines at the moement about this boy becoming a dad at 13 (May i just say he looks about 10), is he likely to be arrested? As he has broke the law, and its not like he broke it when he was 15 which in my opinion isnt as bad. i read somewhere that it was actually 12 when he did have sex which is four years before he legally can. Surely there must be some form of punishment to show that this sort of behavoir is not right? I know that it is better to give out protection than arrest but in this case i think arrest would be better! Or some sort of warning!

I often see dog walkers carrying a big stick. Sometimes these are walking sticks but they are not using them to aid walking, other times they obviously not walking sticks (shorter and heftier). It is obvious that these are carried to deal with fights involving dogs but it is never clear whether it is to stop their dog if it attacks or to stop another dog if it attacks them. Either way it seems that the stick is a defensive weapon so is it legal? If they only carried it to defend their dog against attack does that mean you can carry a weapon to defend your dog but not yourself? If they carry it to defend themselves and their dog against other dogs does that mean you ca…

if you arrest someone on the basis of their fingerprints being found on a scene (because we already hold their prints) then how are these admissable in court? You are not allowed to bring up previous offences in court, but if the basis of your arrest and investigation is based upon hte fact that we already hold that persons prints on file (because they have previously been arrested) then how can you build a case against someone in these circumstances?

Hi, I have been asked what the law is regarding mini motos (the teeny weeny bikes that were all the craze a while back), where you can and cant ride them and what are the punishments etc and what the differences are with them and quad bikes. Do they need registering, helmets, allowed on a road so on. Hope you can help.

This was something me and a few people where going to discuss yesterday, but I was called out of the group because my teacher wanted to talk to me. Anyway here's the situation. Person A has made up a forum to provide links to a website where a user can download games, movies and music, the games and movies. The games, movies and music are protected by copyright. But the downloadable content isn't hosted by Person A its hosted by a completely different company. (the company is in America) Is Person A breaking the law, by allowing the links to be placed on there forum and creating the sole purpose of having links on there forum (apart from a chat area like the locker roo…

I live near the city centre in Manchester and commuters regularly park on my street to go to work in the city centre and University. I'm getting really sick of coming home to find cars parked across my driveway. The other week someone even parked half blocking the drive while my car was actually parked on it, preventing me from getting out! Is there anything I can do about this (apart from leaving notes on the windscreen politely asking them not to do it again or personally challenging the person if I see them returning to their vehicle)? If so is it the responsibilty of the police or the council parking attendants to deal with it? Thanks for you help Kat

I was just wondering why our court system seems to be imbalanced. We arrest someone and interview them in an attempt to get all the necessary evidence to cover the points to prove, We are aware of potential defences. So when it goes to court, why do the defence get a chance to give a myriad of excuses for their clients behaviour when the defences are set in law? It seems very unbalanced especially when you see it affect sentencing i.e the skidding driver who assaulted an officer was let off without a custodial term as he was starting a new job in Ireland.. Why aren't the statuory defences the only defences?

Code C, Paragraph 3.4 provides, "If the custody officer authorises a person's detention the detainee must be informed of the grounds as soon as practicable and before they are questioned about any offence." What I'm wondering about is the precise meaning of "grounds" here. Does this mean that the arrestee must simply be told about the alleged offence for which they have been arrested (and the necessity for the arrest and detention) or does it mean that the arrestee is entitled to know at least some minimal evidence against them, which would justify the arrest? For example, suppose the only evidence against a someone is that a fingerprint, say, was found at the scene of…

[EDIT] I have just noticed the other thread about this but the question still stands as it is slightly off topic compared to the other thread. Right first things first, I am a civilian and would like to clarify something without going on what 'a mate' said. On Monday 16th of Feb a new law comes into place which prevents photographers taking pictures of which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism (ie any photograph of the above). Anyway, as PCSOs are not actually classed as constables, does this law still apply to them? or can photographers use them in media images of say a crime scene corden as long as the photogra…

Just had a thought about what the procedure is for arresting someone who has not strictly committed an offence, but who's welfare is at risk. I know the power exists under Code G of PACE to arrest under section 24 to prevent the person causing physical injury to himself or any other person and suffering physical injury, but what does an arresting officer say to the custody Sgt and what happens once they have been brought/booked into custody? The physical injury example could be appropriate for someone who has injuries, is wandering around a public place but will not seek medical attention. Arresting gets them off the street but they can't be forced to see a doctor and a…

Sorry David I can't reply because the thread is locked to me! I am not a Special, I do work with the police as a civilian (across all the forces) and I have studied some law in relevant areas to my work. I certainly didn't intend to use the forum as a drop in centre and I appologise if it seemed that way. It did seem a little bit as tho. I wasn't welcome, because I'm not a "special". I don't run the forum and you're obviously entitled to "police" it how you like, didn't seem very friendly tho. Anyhow best wishes

Well.. Is it? The more I think about it, it seems like an obvious question but I still have a niggling doubt in my mind that it doesn't count as 'sexual'. Sorry to bother, but does anyone know? It doesn't mention anything about kissing in my Blackstones.

I appreciate the forum isn't a legal drop in centre, but after my "not displaying tax disk" post was closed, it just made me wonder what this forum is intended for if it can't be used for people's thoughts on legal matters? I would think other people would be interested to know the outcome etc. but I'm new to the forum and didn't come to start an argument, so feel free to close this post too and delete it if you want