Regulatory Law

Food Safety

This is a sensitive area of the law regulated by the Food Safety Act 1990 and a number of regulations designed to ensure food is safe from “farm to fork”. Breach of the Act or regulations can result in prosecution in either the Magistrates or Crown Court resulting in adverse publicity and often high fines for a food business.

Our regulatory team is experienced in both defending and prosecuting regulatory cases. More importantly, however, prevention is better than cure and we can advise on the written and practical systems that should be in place to prevent breaches of the legislation and prosecutions occurring.

Health and Safety

Again a sensitive area of the law regulated by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the “six pack” regulations. We have people who again have defended and prosecuted these cases who have acted for businesses and local authorities. Again we can advise on the “Friskies factors” (aggravating and mitigating circumstances) and fining levels, but we also have Health and Safety consultants who can advise on written and practical procedures to avoid prosecutions being brought by the Local Authority or the Health and Safety Executive in the first place.

Environmental Protection

Both Councils and the Environment Agency have powers to serve notices such as statutory nuisance abatement notices relating to noise and smells and the prevention of pollution of streams, rivers and watercourses. Breach of such notices is a criminal offence and prosecutions often. Our regulatory team have experience of prosecuting these types of offences.

Legislation to protect the environment can come in unexpected forms-our team were recently instructed to prosecute a farmer on behalf of a District Council  for removing hedgerows from his field without first getting the Councils permission. Apart from the fine, he was asked to pay £4000 towards prosecution costs. It should be remembered that investigation costs are recoverable in regulatory cases as well as legal costs and these can be considerable. In this case the costs were those of a conservation expert.

Licensing

The Licensing Act 2003 confers wide powers on the Police and the Licensing Authority to instigate reviews of licences and to prosecute for breach of licence conditions. The team's advocacy experience extends to conducting advocacy in front of Council Committees as well as Magistrates Courts and other forms of Tribunals and we are well placed to represent the commercial interests of the brewery/licensee.

Road Transport

A large number of incidents occur annually connected with driving at work including a high incidence of fatalities. Road transport is regulated by general Health and Safety at Work Act duties as well as a number of Acts and regulations related specifically to workplace driving. Again the team can advise on the keeping of written and practical policies and systems to assist in avoiding breaches of regulation and prosecution in relation to workplace driving. In addition the team has expertise in the specialised area of taxis and Hackney Carriage legislation and has recently been instructed to prosecute a £5 overcharge which resulted in a £650 fine and £650 costs for the driver concerned.

Town and Country Planning

Private individuals and developers need to ensure they do not breach enforcement notices or breach legislation relating to listed buildings. The consequences are potentially high fines and even imprisonment. The team has recently represented a developer at a Council interview who unfortunately had carried out unauthorised works on listed buildings. He was not aware he was committing an offence but lack of intent is not a defence to most regulatory offences, which generally are matters of strict liability.