A 15-year old (Deacon or Deakin) who drove a motor car on a Council housing estate was charged with offences of driving a vehicle on a road A road in a housing estate, used only by those who resided in the estate or the visitors, and not by the public generally was held not to be a road. The fact there is neither physical obstruction nor any sign forbidding entry to those with no business there did not itself mean the public had access. There must be evidence that the public utilises that access. The conviction was overturned.
Widgery CJ said:
‘I may add that of course the best way of showing that a member of the general public has access to a road with at least the tolerance of the owner of the property is to show that a member of the public does in fact so use it . . There was not one witness called who said that one single member of the public in the wide sense, that is to say, a person who was not a resident or who was not a visitor to a resident on the estate, in fact used the road of this estate.’
May LJ observed: ‘There was not one witness called who said that one single member of the public in a wide sense, that is to say a person who is not a resident or who is not a visitor to a resident on the estate, in fact used the road for this estate. If there had been any such evidence before the justices I think that their conclusion must have been that this particular road was a road within section 196(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1972. However, looking at the case as stated as carefully as I can, I cannot find any finding of the Justices that any member of the public in that general sense used this particular road. Accordingly, though it may very well be that this road can be proved to be a road within the Road Traffic Act 1972, I cannot see that, on the evidence that these Justices had before them or on the facts, they found that they erred in law.’
May J, Widgery LJ
[1976] RTR 244
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Harriot v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 4-May-2005
The defendant appealed by case stated against his conviction under the 1988 Act of possessing a bladed article in a public place. He had been found in the forecourt of a hostel by the police seeking to re-enter after being excluded. He said that it . .
Cited – Bowen and Others v Isle of Wight Council ChD 3-Dec-2021
What makes a road a Road?
The Court was asked whether a Road was a ‘road’ for the purposes of the 1984 Act’
Held: It has often been said that the public access mentioned in the definition of ‘road’ must be both actual access and legal or lawful access. However, simple . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Road Traffic
Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.512349