Road Traffic Act 2010
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Member of Garda Síochána may seize licence in certain circumstances. |
60.— (1) A member of the Garda Síochána may seize a driving licence or learner permit or a document which purports to be a driving licence or learner permit produced to him or her under section 40 of the Principal Act or section 61 of this Act, where the member has reasonable grounds for believing that— | |
(a) the holder of the licence or permit has been disqualified for holding a driving licence, or | ||
(b) the driving licence or permit has been fraudulently obtained, is forged or altered or purports to be, but is not, a driving licence or permit. | ||
(2) A member of the Garda Síochána who has seized a licence or permit under subsection (1) may make a copy of it and— | ||
(a) in the case of an Irish driving licence or learner permit, return it to the licensing authority concerned, | ||
(b) in the case of a foreign licence, give or send it— | ||
(i) where the holder of the licence is resident in the State, to the licensing authority where the holder is resident, or | ||
(ii) in any other case, to the issuing authority where the licence is seized or, if the member considers it appropriate, to another licensing authority at the request of the holder, | ||
(c) where the licence or permit is as referred to in subsection (1)(b), upon the conclusion of any proceedings have it destroyed. | ||
(3) Where a driving licence or learner permit has been seized from a person under subsection (1), the person, as the case may be, shall not continue to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle or accompany the holder of a learner permit while such holder is driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, in a public place. | ||
(4) A person who contravenes subsection (3) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both. | ||
(5) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant a person who in the member’s opinion is committing or has committed an offence under subsection (4). | ||
(6) A member of the Garda Síochána to whom is produced or who seizes under this section a foreign driving licence which is in a language other than English or Irish may detain the licence for such reasonable period required— | ||
(a) to have its contents translated into English or Irish, and | ||
(b) if the member requires it, to have its validity confirmed. | ||
(7) Section 41 (as amended by section 19 of the Act of 2006) of the Act of 1994 is amended by substituting for paragraph (a) the following: | ||
“(a) the person driving the vehicle— | ||
(i) refuses or fails to produce there and then a driving licence or learner permit then having effect and licensing him or her to drive the vehicle, when production of such a licence is demanded of him or her by a member of the Garda Síochána under section 40 of the Principal Act or section 61 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 and the member is of opinion that the person is by reason of his or her age ineligible to hold a driving licence or learner permit licensing him or her to drive the vehicle, | ||
(ii) has had a driving licence or learner permit seized from him or her under section 60 of the Road Traffic Act 2010, or | ||
(iii) is, in the opinion of a member of the Garda Síochána, disqualified for holding a driving licence or learner permit,”. |