107Urgent situations

107 Urgent situations

(1)  An authorised officer or a gas safety officer may apply to a justice of the peace for a warrant under section 106 by telephone, facsimile, or other means that is prescribed, if the officer considers that the urgency of the situation requires it.

(2)  A justice of the peace may complete and sign a warrant applied for under subsection (1) in the same way as a warrant applied for by the officer in person, if the justice of the peace is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for issuing the warrant urgently.

(3)  A justice of the peace who grants a warrant applied for under subsection (1) must –

(a) inform the authorised officer, or the gas safety officer, to whom the warrant is issued, of –

(i) the terms of the warrant; and

(ii) the date on which, and the time at which, the warrant was signed; and

(iii) the date on which, and the time at which, the warrant ceases to have effect; and

(b) record on the warrant the reasons for granting it.

(4)  The authorised officer, or the gas safety officer, to whom a warrant is issued in accordance with subsection (3) must –

(a) complete a form of warrant in the same terms as the warrant signed by the justice of the peace; and

(b) write on the form –

(i) the name of the justice of the peace; and

(ii) the date on which, and the time at which, the warrant was signed; and

(c) send the completed form of warrant to the justice of the peace not later than the day after the warrant is executed or ceases to have effect.

(5)  On receipt of the form of warrant, the justice of the peace must attach it to the warrant that the justice of the peace signed under subsection (2) .

(6)  A form of warrant completed by an authorised officer or a gas safety officer under has the same force as a warrant signed by the justice of the peace under .