Most travelling football fans will behave civilly and lawfully when attending football matches, both on their coaches and at the actual games themselves. However, the police are concerned by the rise of football hooliganism and the behaviour of a minority of football fans who seem to ruin things for the majority.

With the conclusion of the premier league 22/23 season, and the reduction in football matches that comes with this period, the Senior Traffic Commissioner is taking the opportunity to consult on changes to the guidelines for taking passengers to sporting events in England and Wales. These changes propose to widen the scope of the guidelines and place the burden on monitoring passengers on the driver of the vehicle in question.

It is worth mentioning that, historically, it is rare that a Traffic Commissioner has had to take regulatory action against a licence holder for the behaviour of passengers attending sports events.

Drinking, alcohol, and flares

Section 1(1) of the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 makes it a criminal offence for a public service vehicle (PSV) operator to knowingly cause or permit passengers to carry alcohol on one of their vehicles, where the primary purpose of that vehicle is to take passengers to a designated sporting event. The person who carries alcohol on such a vehicle is also guilty of a criminal offence.

It is also interesting to note that a person who is “drunk” on such a vehicle is also guilty of an offence.

What this means for coach and PSV operators is that where their vehicle is being used to take passengers to a designated sporting event, they must implement and take measures to ensure that passengers are not bringing alcohol onto that vehicle.

Where a coach operator is found to be guilty of such an offence, they are likely to be the subject of a fine not exceeding £2,500. This is from a criminal perspective. In terms of their operator’s licence, the Traffic Commissioner will likely want to consider the circumstances of this offence in answering the question of whether the operator still has “good repute”. The requirement of “good repute” is obviously one of the 4 key requirements that must be satisfied to continue to hold an operator’s licence.

In addition to alcohol controls, section 2A of the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol Etc.) Act 1985 makes it an offence for a person to have an article or substance at any time during a designated sporting event, or whilst trying to enter or whilst entering the grounds of any designated sporting event with the main purpose of emitting a flare or illuminating signals or the emission of smoke or visible gas. This offence obviously applies to the person in possession, but suggestions that a PSV operator may have facilitated the entry of such articles into a sports ground will likely also be looked at by a Traffic Commissioner.

For the purposes of the above, the only designated sporting events are currently association football matches.

The consultation

The consultation regarding the changes to the guidelines can be found here.

Proposed changes include, for example, extending a driver’s obligation to report offensive chanting to encompass chanting based on transgender identity.  

The consultation itself is due to close at 9am on 06 July 2023, and asks that responses are sent to the below:

Email to:

tccoconsultations@otc.gov.uk

Write to:

Mark Richardson
Policy and Business Support Officer
Traffic Commissioner Corporate Office
Hillcrest House
386 Harehills Lane
Leeds
LS9 6NF