27. — (1) Where a mechanically propelled vehicle, other than a large public service vehicle within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, is used in the commission of an offence under this Act—

(a) the registered owner of the vehicle,

(b) if the vehicle is the subject of a hire-drive agreement at the time of the commission of the offence, the person who hired the vehicle, and

(c) if the person using the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence is not the registered owner or the person who hired the vehicle, the person using the vehicle at that time,

or each of them severally shall be guilty of an offence, whether or not any other of them is prosecuted and convicted for the offence.

(2) If the person charged with an offence under subsection (1) is the registered owner of the vehicle concerned, it shall be a defence for the person to show that, at the time of the commission of the offence, the vehicle was being used by another person and that—

(a) such use was unauthorised, or

(b) the vehicle was at that time the subject of a hire-drive agreement.

(3) If the person charged with an offence under subsection (1) is the person to whom the vehicle concerned stood hired under a hire-drive agreement at the time of the commission of the offence, it shall be a defence for the person to show that, at the time, the vehicle was being used by another person and that such use was unauthorised.