Roads & Maritime Services v Dranmore Pty Ltd & Ors [2017] NSWLC 22

Roads & Maritime Services v Dranmore Pty Ltd & Ors [2017] NSWLC 22

RMS proved the relevant speeding offences and derivative directorial liability offences beyond reasonable doubt, except for four charges where operator control and direction on the specific dates was not proved. However, the defendants established on the balance of probabilities that the corporate defendants did not know and could not reasonably be expected to have known of the conduct and took all reasonable steps to prevent it, and that the director defendants took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence. RMS did not negative those statutory defences beyond reasonable doubt, so the cl.156(3) and s.178(1) charges were dismissed, while Roadmaster's four guilty pleas to s.69C(1)...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
04 October 2017
Procedural Posture
Criminal Prosecution for Heavy Vehicle Speeding, Speed Limiter and Chain of Responsibility Offences / Principal Judgment After Hearing
Outcome
Verdicts of not guilty entered and charges dismissed for all cl.156(3) Road Transport (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW) and s.178(1) Road Transport (General) Act 2005 (NSW) charges; four s.69C(1) Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 (NSW) guilty pleas by Roadmaster accepted with sentence date to be...
Legal Topics
['heavy Vehicle Speeding Offences' 'chain of Responsibility' 'speed Limiter Compliance' 'strict Liability' 'reasonable Steps Defence' 'directorial Liability' 'onus and Standard of Proof']
['criminal Law' 'road Transport Law' 'evidence'] ['heavy Vehicle Speeding Offences' 'chain of Responsibility' 'speed Limiter Compliance' 'strict Liability' 'reasonable Steps Defence' 'directorial Liability' 'onus and Standard of Proof']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Criminal Prosecution for Heavy Vehicle Speeding, Speed Limiter and Chain of Responsibility Offences / Principal Judgment After Hearing

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether RMS proved beyond reasonable doubt that the relevant heavy vehicles committed speeding offences at the alleged times, dates and locations using TIRTL, Point-to-Point and Safe-T-Cam evidence.' 'Whether the corporate defendants established the statutory defence under cl.156(6) Road Transport (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW) by proving lack of knowledge and that all reasonable steps were taken to prevent the conduct.' 'Whether the individual director defendants established the statutory defence under s.178(7) Road Transport (General) Act 2005 (NSW) by proving reasonable precautions and due diligence.' 'Whether four identified charges failed because there was insufficient proof beyond reasonable doubt of operator control and direction on the specific offence dates.']

Ratio Decidendi

RMS proved the relevant speeding offences and derivative directorial liability offences beyond reasonable doubt, except for four charges where operator control and direction on the specific dates was not proved. However, the defendants established on the balance of probabilities that the corporate defendants did not know and could not reasonably be expected to have known of the conduct and took all reasonable steps to prevent it, and that the director defendants took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence. RMS did not negative those statutory defences beyond reasonable doubt, so the cl.156(3) and s.178(1) charges were dismissed, while Roadmaster's four guilty pleas to s.69C(1)...

Court Disposition

Verdicts of not guilty entered and charges dismissed for all cl.156(3) Road Transport (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW) and s.178(1) Road Transport (General) Act 2005 (NSW) charges; four s.69C(1) Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 (NSW) guilty pleas by Roadmaster accepted with sentence date to be...

Orders

  • ['Enter verdicts of not guilty in relation to, and dismiss, all charges brought pursuant to cl.156(3) Road Transport (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW) and s.178(1) Road Transport (General) Act 2005 (NSW).' 'Enter verdicts of not guilty in relation to, and dismiss, sequence 18 of 2012/168266, sequence 8 of 2012/174767,...