The following administrative penalties have been identified as being within the scope of the question.
1. By sections 54, 62 and 75 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 vehicle examiners working within the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) (an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport) have power to issue fixed penalties in respect of certain road traffic offences. An example of an offence for which VOSA may issue a fixed penalty is an offence in relation to drivers' hours (under section 96(11) of the Transport Act 1968).
From May 2009 (when the power was introduced) to December 2009, VOSA issued fixed penalties to the total value of £2.4 million.
2. The Railways Act 1993 provides for certain administrative penalty powers within the scope of the question:
(a) Section 55(7A) allows the Secretary of State to make a final or provisional order against a relevant operator (most obviously a franchisee). The order may contain a requirement to pay the Secretary of State a specified sum in the event of a specified contravention of the order. The specified sum may not exceed 10 per cent. of the relevant entity's annual turnover.
(b) Section 57A allows the Secretary of State to impose a penalty on a relevant operator (most obviously a franchisee). A penalty imposed under this section may not exceed 10 per cent. of the relevant entity's annual turnover.
The Strategic Rail Authority (from which the Secretary of State took over responsibility for imposing penalties under sections 55(7A) and 57A) imposed one penalty of £2 million in 2002 under section 57A. The Secretary of State has never imposed a penalty under section 55(7A) or 57A and is not aware that the Strategic Rail Authority imposed any further penalties.
The Office of the Rail Regulator (and its predecessor—it was established in its current form in 2004) has also imposed penalties under the Railways Act 1993 but details are not included in this response as it is a separate (non-ministerial) Government Department and not an agency or NDPB of the Department for Transport.
3. Section 7A of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 and regulation 9A of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 operate so that where registered keepers of motor vehicles do not pay their vehicle excise duty on time (and renew their vehicle licence) they are charged a supplement. This supplement may be collected as a debt by the Crown. By regulation 9A(3):
“The supplement shall be £80, except when it is paid to the Secretary of State before the expiry of 28 days beginning with the date on which the registered keeper is notified that a supplement may or has become payable, when it shall be £40.”
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport) is responsible for collecting the supplements. It has recovered the following amounts since supplements were introduced in January 2004:
Financial year Penalty income (£ million) 2003-04 0.1 2004-05 17 2005-06 24.1 2006-07 24.5 2007-08 28.3 2008-09 30.1
4. Traffic Commissioners are appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport.
They have the power to impose administrative penalties under section 155 of the Transport Act 2000 (which has been amended by the Local Transport Act 2008). Section 155 enables the Commissioners to impose financial sanctions of up to £550 per vehicle operated under a Public Service Vehicle operator's licence. The recent amendments made by the 2008 Act also enable the Commissioners to require operators to pay compensation to passengers affected by poorly operated services, or to require operators to spend money either on specific services or facilities, or on improvements to such services or facilities. Section 155 extends to England and Wales. There is an equivalent provision in relation to Scotland contained in section 39 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 (sums recovered are paid to the Scottish Ministers). Section 39 has not, however, been amended in the same way as section 155 was by the 2008 Act.
Under section 111 of the Transport Act 1985 (as amended by section 158 of the Transport Act 2000), Traffic Commissioners could require the operator of unregistered or unreliable local services to repay up to 20 per cent. of a bus fuel duty grant. Section 111 was repealed with effect from 2002.
The following table sets out the penalties imposed under the section 39, the section 111 and the section 155 powers (taken together; in some cases the amounts have been estimated).
Penalties imposed (£) 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 45,000.00 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 181,209.00 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 140,725.00 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 275,580.00 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 90,050.00 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 214,978.00 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 407,590.00 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 199,170.00 1 April 2009 to 30 September 2009 32,900.00
5. The British Transport Police Authority (“BTPA”) is an NDPB of the Department for Transport. A constable of the British Transport Police Force (“BTP Force”, being the police force that the BTPA maintains and oversees) has power to issue penalty notices. The principal powers are:
(a) Section 2 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, under which a constable of the BTP Force may issue penalty notices in respect of the disorderly behaviour offences listed in section 1 of that Act. An example of such an offence is trespassing on a railway (under section 55 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949).
Section 2 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 extends to England and Wales, but not to Scotland.
(b) Sections 54, 62 and 75 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, under which a constable of the BTP Force has power to issue fixed penalties in respect of certain road traffic offences. An example of such an offence is failure to stop a vehicle upon being so required by a constable in uniform (under section 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988).
(c) Section 129 of the Anti-social Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, under which a constable of the BTP Force in Scotland has power (since 1 April 2009) to issue fixed penalty notices in respect of the antisocial behaviour offences specified in section 128 of that Act. An example of such an offence is vandalism (under section 52(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995).
From 2006 (when constables of the BTP Force started issuing fixed penalties in England and Wales) to 2009, the following amounts have been recovered by way of payment for fixed penalties in England and Wales:
Penalty income (£) 2006 109,320 2007 180,270 2008 169,500 2009 189,140
In the time available, it has been possible to obtain payment figures only for England and Wales.
6. Section 129 of the Energy Act 2004 allows certain provisions of that Act which are relevant to renewable fuels to be “designate” by Order, and then for civil penalties to be imposed by the Renewable Fuels Agency (an NDPB of the Department for Transport) in respect of non-compliance with those designated provisions. Article 23 of the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation Order 2007 details the designated provisions in question.
The civil penalty mechanism has not been used and so no sums have been paid.