Clause 5 - The special powers of a traffic officer
Traffic Management Bill
3:30 pm
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
This is a big group of amendments. We have become aware that the reference to section 163 in clause 6(3) is inconsistent with the reference in clause 6(4)(a). That error would inadvertently give traffic officers powers of arrest, as one of the earlier Conservative amendments would also have done. However, new clause 10 will address that issue by replacing clause 6, providing powers for traffic officers to stop or direct traffic. The new clause expressly sets out the powers and thus makes them more transparent. It sets out the appropriate textual amendments to the relevant statutory provisions, making it easier to see how those statutory provisions are affected and to understand their relationship to other provisions in road traffic statutes.
New clause 10 also removes from traffic officers the power of arrest in section 163(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which provides that any reference to a constable in section 163 of that Act includes a reference to a traffic officer in clause 6(4)(a). That inadvertently gave traffic officers the power of arrest granted to constables in subsection section 163(4). Amendment No. 60 is consequential.