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32 Owner not in charge of motor vehicle with sound system emitting offensive noise

32 Owner not in charge of motor vehicle with sound system emitting offensive noise

(1) Section 31 does not apply to the owner of a motor vehicle if—

(a) the motor vehicle was, at the time of the commission of the offence, a stolen motor vehicle or a motor vehicle illegally taken or used, or

(b) the owner was not in the motor vehicle at the relevant time and—

(i) gives notice in accordance with this section of the name and address of the person who was in charge of the motor vehicle at the relevant time, or

(ii) satisfies the officer who gave the penalty notice for the offence or the court dealing with the offence, as the case requires, that the owner did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained, that name and address.

(2) The notice specified in subsection (1)(b)(i) must be in the form of an approved nomination notice and must be given to—

(a) if a penalty notice has been issued for the offence—an officer specified in the penalty notice within 21 days after the issue of the penalty notice, and

(b) if a court is dealing with the offence—the prosecutor within 21 days after service of the summons or court attendance notice for the offence.

(3) Despite another provision of this regulation, an approved nomination notice may be given by the owner of a motor vehicle issued with a penalty notice within 90 days of the penalty notice being issued if the approved nomination notice is given in the circumstances specified in the Fines Act 1996, section 23AA or 23AB.

(4) If the owner of a vehicle gives an approved nomination notice to an officer or a prosecutor under this section, the officer or prosecutor may, by written notice served on the owner, require the owner to supply a statutory declaration for use in court proceedings that verifies the nomination contained in the approved nomination notice.

(5) An owner who fails to supply the statutory declaration within the time required by the officer or prosecutor is taken not to have given notice in accordance with this section.