FEATURE Bastian Lloyd Morris
Don’t fuel the
rumours, check your car before you go!
Us drivers, we love nothing more than to talk about our journey to work and the near-death hazards that we’ve negotiated along the way. Driving in rain/snow/hail/storms and on black ice can be fruitfully mined to initiate conversation, at every opportunity. So can stories about our driving being impeded, or made unpleasant, by obstructions in the road, congestion, roadworks, incidents and accidents, middle-lane huggers, Sunday drivers, boy racers, road-ragers (never us!) and tail-gaters (again never us!). I sometimes – usually at social gatherings when
my associate discovers that I am a solicitor – get asked if running out of fuel on the motorway is a criminal off ence. If I had a pound for every time that someone asked me that! A simple question, but alas the answer is not such a simple one. In fact, from time to time, the question has kept both judges and juries pontifi cating for days on end. Obviously, the question is not to be equated with one of life’s great mysteries, but it does deserve a clear answer. T e answer is yes, no and maybe! No. Contrary to popular urban myth, it is not
illegal to run out of fuel on a motorway. T e red top newspapers like to give this message though, using journalistic licence and their penchant to overstate every aspect of human frailty and stupidity. Stupid
14 ALL THINGS BUSINESS
Syvil Lloyd Morris Solicitor Advocate & Co-Founder
Bastian Lloyd Morris
people make good reading, but stupid people committing criminal off ences, well that just makes even better reading. T e ‘no’ answer is possible because the wording of the relevant
regulations specifically allows ‘stopping’ on a motorway hard shoulder, in the event of an emergency. Emergencies, according to the regulations, include the vehicle not being able to function due to lack of oil, water and fuel, as well as mechanical defects and other causes of vehicle breakdowns. However, the powers that be do not end their enquiries at this point – that would be far too simple, wouldn’t it? Yes. In certain circumstances, running out of fuel on the motorway
can result in prosecutions for off ences such as obstruction of the highway, careless and inconsiderate driving, or even worse, causing death by dangerous driving, which is punishable by a custodial sentence of up to 14 years. Careless and inconsiderate driving can result in nine penalty
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