Section 161: Power of constables to require production of driving licences and in certain cases statement of date of birth, Road Traffic Act 1972

Any such person as follows, that is to say,—

a person driving a motor vehicle on a road, or

a person whom a constable has reasonable cause to believe to have been the driver of a motor vehicle at a time when an accident occurred owing to its presence on a road, or

a person whom a constable has reasonable cause to believe to have committed an offence in relation to the use of a motor vehicle on a road, or

a person who supervises the holder of a provisional licence granted under Part III of this Act while the holder is driving a motor vehicle on a road or whom a constable has reasonable cause to believe was supervising the holder of such a licence while driving at a time when an accident occurred owing to the presence of the vehicle on a road or at a time when an offence is suspected of having been committed by the said holder in relation to the use of the vehicle on a road,

shall, on being so required by a constable, produce for examination his licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part III of this Act, so as to enable the constable to ascertain the name and address of the holder of the licence, the date of issue, and the authority by which it was issued; and shall in prescribed circumstances, on being so required by the constable, state his date of birth.

Where a licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part III of this Act has been revoked by the Secretary of State under section 87 or 89 thereof then if the holder of the licence fails to deliver it to the Secretary of State in pursuance of that section a constable may require him to produce it, and upon its being produced may seize it and deliver it to the Secretary of State.

Where a constable has reasonable cause to believe that the person to whom a licence to drive a motor vehicle has been granted under Part III of this Act, or any other person, has knowingly made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining the grant of the licence the constable may require the holder of the licence to produce it to him.

If a person required under the foregoing provisions of this section to produce a licence or state his date of birth to a constable fails to do so he shall be guilty of an offence; but if within five days after the production of his licence was so required he produces the licence in person at such police station as may have been specified by him at the time its production was required, he shall not be convicted of an offence under this subsection.

Where in accordance with this section a person has stated his date of birth to a constable, the Secretary of State may serve on that person a notice in writing requiring him to furnish the Secretary of State—

with such evidence in that person's possession or obtainable by him as the Secretary of State may specify for the purposes of verifying that date ; and

if his name differs from his name at the time of his birth, with a statement in writing specifying his name at that time;

and a person who knowingly fails to comply with a notice under this subsection shall be guilty of an offence.

A notice authorised to be served on any person by subsection (5) above may be served on him by delivering it to him or by leaving it at his proper address or by sending it to him by post; and for the purposes of this subsection and section 26 of the Interpretation Act 1889 in its application to this subsection the proper address of any person shall be his latest address as known to the person giving the notice.

Section 161: Power of constables to require production of driving licences and in certain cases statement of date of birth

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