ABSTRACT
Robert Goff LJ: ... [Section 12 of the Theft Act 1968] simply provides that the offence is committed if a person takes a conveyance for his own use, without prior consent or lawful authority. So, to be guilty of the offence, the accused must have both taken the vehicle, ie have taken control of it and caused it to be moved, and he must have done so for his own or another’s use. The latter requirement has been said to mean ‘for his own use or another’s as a conveyance’: see R v Bow (1976) 64 Cr App R 54 at 57, per Bridge LJ. Even so, as we see it, if a person takes a vehicle for that use, ie to use it as a conveyance, without the consent of the owner or lawful authority, he commits the offence ... Suppose a man finds a car in the street. He needs a car for a day’s expedition. He forms the intent to take the car for that use, though intending to return it later to that place where he found it. He knows he cannot start it then, so he pushes it round the corner to his home with the intention of getting it going for use on his expedition. The police catch up with him and find the car parked in his yard. Has that person committed the offence of taking a conveyance for his own use, without having the necessary consent or authority? In our judgment, he has. He has certainly taken it because he has moved it a certain distance. In my judgment his purpose for taking it is plain. It was for use as a conveyance. So in those circumstances, the offence has been committed.
