My Lords, this amendment concerns the powers of the British Transport Police and is tabled by the Government after further consideration of the amendments suggested by the noble Lord, Lord
Faulkner of Worcester, to Section 100 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and to Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. We have accepted the broad principles behind the noble Lord’s amendments, but have made certain technical and drafting changes.
The first subsection of the proposed new clause concerns extending the British Transport Police’s jurisdiction under Section 100 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Since Committee, we have reflected further on the noble Lord’s suggestion and are persuaded that some of the current limitations set out in Section 100 of the 2001 Act may indeed compromise the British Transport Police’s effectiveness and impact on interoperability with the territorial police forces. As a result, we agree that there is merit in removing the requirement for BTP officers to either be in uniform or able to produce a warrant card in order to be able to act beyond their core railway jurisdiction where there is an immediate need to do so and they are acting on their own initiative.
That would permit BTP officers to act on their own initiative in any police area in England and Wales when in plain clothes and without producing a warrant card, subject to any limitations placed on them under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, where they have reasonable grounds to suspect a person of having committed an offence, being in the course of committing or being about to commit an offence, or where they have reasonable grounds to believe that they need to act in order to save a life or to prevent or minimise personal injury. In other words, it would ensure that a BTP officer is able to act whenever immediate intervention is required, whether on duty or not, and regardless of the officer’s regular jurisdiction.
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We are persuaded also that the prevention of damage to property should be added to the circumstances in which a BTP officer may act beyond his normal jurisdiction. Extending the jurisdiction to include the safeguarding of property provides a very limited extension of the BTP’s remit, exercisable in circumstances when the officer is satisfied that he has reasonable grounds on which to determine that he should exercise his constabulary powers rather than securing the attendance of an officer from the territorial force, or in response to a request from an officer of that force to act.
We remain unpersuaded that it is necessary to remove the need for the BTP officer to make a judgment on whether to act or to await the attendance of a territorial force officer who would in the normal course of events deal with the particular incident, or to act at the request of the relevant territorial police force. It is important that BTP officers act outside their normal jurisdiction only when there is an immediate need to do so. The exercise of judgment on whether intervention is necessary, and how such intervention should be conducted, is something that police officers exercise on a daily basis. We are not convinced that this places an unnecessary restriction on BTP officers. Removing this constraint would risk distracting them from their prime focus of policing the railway—a role that I note is paid for by the rail industry. Furthermore, having a totally rail-focused police force is absolutely critical to the effective function of our railways.
The changes made by this subsection of the new clause will affect BTP officers in England and Wales. The amendment to Section 100 extends BTP’s jurisdiction when acting in the police area of the police service of Scotland and the Scottish Government have decided that they are unable to support such an amendment.
The second subsection of the new clause pertains to the powers of the British Transport Police to issue notices under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act, which deals with identification of vehicle drivers who have committed road traffic offences. The police are empowered to write to vehicle keepers and request information on the driver. Failure to comply is an offence that can carry a court fine of up to £1,000 or a fixed penalty of £200. That request must come from a chief officer of police.
Given the BTP’s role in road traffic law enforcement, it seems sensible that it should have the same information-seeking powers as other police forces. The potential for a serious accident involving a road vehicle and a train where a car is left on a level crossing or parked in an inappropriate manner in a railway environment requires that the BTP be able to identify and bring the relevant legal proceedings.
The amendment will amend Section 172 to include an express reference to the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police. We think that this is appropriate and sensible and hope that it will have the support of the House. As Section 172 is a non-devolved matter in relation to Scotland and Wales, this proposed change will apply to all of Great Britain and does not require a legislative consent Motion.
Amendment 53A (to Amendment 53)