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Motor Vehicles Act 1949
128ADefective motor vehicles
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128A Defective motor vehicles
(2) A member of the Police Force or an inspector may, if he considers
that a motor vehicle that is standing or being driven or moved on a
public street is defective:
(a) examine or inspect the motor vehicle; or
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(b) direct the owner or any person having custody of the motor
vehicle to produce the vehicle, at a specified time and place,
for examination or inspection.
(3) The owner or any person having custody of a motor vehicle shall
not:
(a) prevent or hinder the examination of the motor vehicle by a
member of the Police Force or an inspector; or
(b) refuse or fail to comply with a direction given under
subsection (2)(b).
(4) A member of the Police Force or an inspector who examines or
inspects or causes to be examined or inspected a motor vehicle
may, for the purpose of such examination or inspection, drive, move
or test the motor vehicle or cause it to be driven, moved or tested.
(5) A member of the Police Force or an inspector who examines or
inspects a motor vehicle or any person who is authorized by a
member of the Police Force or an inspector to examine or inspect a
motor vehicle shall not be liable for any damage to that vehicle
caused by or arising from his reasonable actions in examining or
inspecting that vehicle.
(6) Where, upon examination or inspection, a motor vehicle is found to
be defective, a member of the Police Force or an inspector may
issue to the owner or any person having custody of the motor
vehicle a notice (in this Act called a defect notice) in accordance
with the approved form:
(a) specifying the defects in the vehicle; and
(b) directing that the vehicle shall not, except as provided in the
defect notice, be driven or moved on a public street after the
issue of the defect notice until the vehicle has been produced
at a place specified in the defect notice for examination or
inspection by a member of the Police Force or an inspector
and is found to be no longer defective.
(7) At the time that a member of the Police Force or an inspector
issues a defect notice to a person, he or she must affix a label (a
defect label), in the approved form, on a conspicuous place on the
vehicle that would not obstruct the view of a driver if the vehicle
were to be driven.
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(8) A defect notice:
(a) may provide that the motor vehicle to which it relates may be
driven or moved as directed in the defect notice on public
streets to a convenient place for the purpose of carrying out
work on that vehicle to render it no longer defective; and
(b) shall provide that after such work to render the vehicle no
longer defective has been completed, the vehicle may be
driven or moved on public streets by the shortest practicable
route to the place specified in the defect notice for
examination or inspection of that vehicle.
(9) Where a motor vehicle has been produced in accordance with a
direction in a defect notice for examination or inspection and it is
found that, while the reasons stated in the defect notice for the
vehicle being defective have been remedied, there are other
reasons why the vehicle is defective, a further defect notice may be
issued stating those other reasons.
(10) A person shall not, where a defect notice has been issued in
respect of a motor vehicle, drive that vehicle or cause or permit that
vehicle to be driven or moved on a public street contrary to the
terms of the defect notice.
(11) Where a motor vehicle has been produced in accordance with a
direction in a defect notice for examination or inspection and the
member of the Police Force or the inspector who carries out that
examination or inspection or causes that examination or inspection
to be carried out is satisfied that the vehicle is no longer defective,
he shall remove or shall authorize the removal of the defect label
from the vehicle.
(12) A person, not being a member of the Police Force or an inspector,
shall not remove, alter or deface a defect label on a motor vehicle
unless he has been authorized to do so.
(13) Where, within the period of 28 days after a defect notice has been
issued in respect of a motor vehicle or such further period as the
Registrar may allow, the owner or any person having custody of
that vehicle has not:
(a) produced it for examination or inspection; or
(b) applied to the Registrar for the registration of that vehicle to be
cancelled,
the Registrar may, by notice in writing, require the owner or any
such person to show cause, within 14 days after the date of the
notice, why the registration of that vehicle should not be cancelled.
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(14) The Registrar may cancel the registration of a motor vehicle where
a person fails to show reasonable cause under subsection (13) why
the registration of the vehicle should not be cancelled.
(15) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where the Registrar
cancels the registration of a motor vehicle in pursuance of
subsection (14), the person in whose name the vehicle is registered
shall not be entitled to a refund of any fee or portion of a fee paid
for that registration.
(16) A motor vehicle produced in accordance with a direction in a defect
notice for examination or inspection shall not be examined or
inspected until the prescribed fee has been paid to the Registrar or
an approved person.
(17) For this section, a motor vehicle is defective if:
(a) it does not comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 and
the Standards; or
(b) due to its condition, design or construction, the motor vehicle
cannot reasonably be relied on to operate without being a
source of danger or annoyance to a person or a source of
damage to public streets.