52.—(1) An inspector may, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this Part, do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) enter at all reasonable times any premises where he has reasonable grounds for believing that any workers to whom an employment regulation order applies are employed,

(b) require the production of wages sheets or other records of remuneration kept by an employer and any such records as are required by this Part to be kept by employers, and inspect and examine those sheets or records and copy any material part thereof,

(c) examine with respect to any matters under this Part any person whom he has reasonable grounds for believing to be or have been a worker to whom, an employment regulation order applies or the employer of any such worker and require such person or employer to answer such questions (other than questions tending to incriminate such person) as such inspector may put touching such matters and to sign a declaration of the truth of the answers to such questions.

(2) If any person—

(a) obstructs or impedes an inspector in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on such inspector by this section, or

(b) refuses to produce any record which an inspector lawfully requires him to produce, or

(c) prevents, or attempts to prevent any person from appearing before or being questioned by an inspector, or

(d) F52[…] fails or refuses to comply with any lawful requirement of an inspector under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section,

such person shall be guilty of an offence under this subsection and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(3) If any person required by this Part to keep records keeps or causes to be kept, or produces or causes to be produced or knowingly allows to be produced to an inspector, any record which is false in any material respect knowing it to be false, he shall be guilty of an offence under this subsection and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(4) An inspector may institute proceedings for an offence under any section or subsection contained in this Part.

(5) (a) Any inspector may, if it appears to him that a sum is due from an employer to a worker (being a worker to whom an employment regulation order, which fixes remuneration, applies) on account of the payment to him of remuneration less than the statutory minimum remuneration, institute on behalf of and in the name of that worker civil proceedings for the recovery of that sum and in any such proceedings an order may be made for the payment of costs by the inspector as if he were a party to the proceedings.

(b) The power given by paragraph (a) of this subsection for the recovery of sums due by an employer to a worker shall not be in derogation of any right of the worker to recover such sums in civil proceedings.