5.— The following section is inserted after section 64 of the Principal Act:

“64A.— (1) A road undertaking for the purposes of charging and collecting payment of tolls shall have access to and may inspect and examine licensing records and may take or be supplied with information or extracts from those records relating to the charging or payment of tolls on payment of such fee (if any) to cover the administrative costs in accessing such records.

(2) Where a road undertaking for the purposes of charging or collecting payment of a toll in respect of a vehicle using a toll road suspects that the vehicle on the occasion in question is the subject of an agreement and it is unable to ascertain from licensing records information regarding the person in possession of the vehicle under the agreement, it may require and be supplied with information from the registered owner of the vehicle regarding the person in possession of the vehicle under the agreement.

(3) Where a request is made under subsection (2), the registered owner of the vehicle the subject of the request shall, within 21 days, supply to the road undertaking making the request, where the vehicle is the subject of an agreement, the name and address of the person in possession of the vehicle under the agreement, on the occasion in question, to which the request relates.

(4) A person who in supplying information under subsection (3) gives false or misleading information is guilty of an offence.

(5) Where a registered owner fails or refuses to give information to a road undertaking for the purposes of this section the registered owner is presumed, until the contrary is shown, to have had possession of the vehicle on the occasion in question and is liable to pay the toll concerned.

(6) In this section ‘agreement’ means a hire-purchase agreement or a consumer-hire agreement, as the case may be.”.