Using this Search screen

1. Choose what you would like to search for
2. How should we search for your text?
3. What types of documents are you interested in?
4. How many results would you like to display?
5. Do you want to search only for documents which are in-force?
6. Do you want to search only in the currently selected category?
7. Search Results
8. Alternative Suggestions
9. Viewing and sorting search results
10. Quick Search
11. Categories

This section of the screen allows you to identify the information we will use to search for the document(s) you would like to view.

Document Reference

If you know the reference of the document you would like to search for enter it in the Document Reference field. The reference is in the format of one or more letters followed by a number - for example H3125 or XM00010945.

There is no need to change any other information on the screen - just click the search button and, if the document exists, it will be displayed.

Wildcards - if you want to display a range of documents rather than find a single document you can include a `wildcard’ in the document reference. A wildcard is a character which replaces one or more other characters in your search. `%’ replaces any number of characters and `_’ replaces one only. For example:

• If you search for document reference H31 then only one document will be returned and will be displayed immediately.
• If you search for H31% then any documents with a reference which starts with H31 will be returned - for example H31, H310, H3154, etc.
• If you search for H31_ then any documents with a reference which starts with H31 and has one additional character will be returned - for example H31, H310, H315, etc. but not H3154

Search Text

If you do not know the reference of the document you would like to search for then enter some text which will help you to find what you are looking for. This may be text which you think will appear in the title of the document or somewhere else within the document.

Some hints;

• We will ignore any punctuation – it will be replaced with a space when searching.
• We will ignore common short words such as ‘the’ and ‘and’ as they appear too often and will cause too many results to be returned.
• Add * at the end of any word to represent any number of additional characters. For example searching for 'vehicle*' will find both 'vehicle' and 'vehicles' or searching for 'legislat*' will find 'legislate', 'legislation', 'legislated', 'legislator' etc.
• If you are searching for an exact phrase the * can only be added at the end of the phrase. If you are searching for All Words or Any Words the * can be added to any word(s) you enter.
• Try to use words which will return the information you are looking for while not returning too many others. For example if you are interested in the offence wording for an offence of speeding over a 50 mile per hour limit with temporary signs then do not search for ‘speeding’, which will bring back every offence of speeding and all legislation and any cases elated to speeding. Try searching for All Words and enter ‘speeding 50 temporary’ which will bring back a much smaller list of documents.
• For a traffic offence you can also search by the DVLA code if you know it – for example ‘SP30’.

This section of the screen allows you to specify how we use the information you have provided to carry out the search.

If you select ‘The exact phrase appears in the document’ we will search for exactly the words you have entered in exactly the same order. For example if you search for ‘police officer power and authority’ we will display only documents which include exactly that phrase. This option should only be used if you are sure of the exact phrase – for example you have the title of an Act or the exact name of an offence. This search may sometimes be slow, particularly if the phrase contains words which are very common in the system.

If you select ‘All of the words appear in the document’ we will ignore any common short words such as ‘and’ and ‘the’, as they appear in too many documents, and we will display any document which contains all of the other words you have entered. For example if you search for ‘police officer power and authority’ we will display any documents which include the word ‘police’ and the word ‘officer’ and the word ‘power’ and the word ‘authority’ but they may not be related to each other at all. For example it would display any document which includes that exact phrase but would also display a document which contains the sentence: ‘The police attended the local authority fireworks display and spoke to a fire officer who demonstrated the power of his extinguishing equipment’. You should try to select your words to match your specific search requirements as closely as possible. This option should be used whenever you do not know the exact phrase you are looking for.

If you select ‘Any one or more of the words appear in the document’ we will ignore any common short words such as ‘and’ and ‘the’, as they appear in too many documents, and we will display any document which contains ANY of the other words you have entered. For example if you search for ‘police officer power and authority’ we will display any documents which include any of those words – all documents which include the word ‘police’ and all documents which include the word ‘officer’ etc. As you can imagine that may result in a very long list of documents. This option is best used when you have a relatively unusual word and wish to search for alternatives. For example if you have a case of importing a restricted animal and you are not sure what the specific animal would be called in the legislation you could enter ‘aardvark anteater’ in the text field and select this option. It would then display any document which contains either of those words.

NOTE - plurals are not automatically included in search results so you may find that if you do not find what you want using the singular version of the word. If you wish to find both single and plural versions consider using an * at the end of the word - for example searching for 'vehicle*' will find both 'vehicle' and 'vehicles'.

This section of the screen allows you to limit the types of document which are returned as a result of your search.

If you do not change the selection we will search all documents selected. If you wish to limit the documents which are returned you can select or un-select any of these document types.

• Legal Topic - this is a document which gives a detailed explanation of a point of law
• Offence Wording - this is a document which contains the wordings, points to prove etc for any offence
• Case Law - this is a document which gives details of a case which clarifies or changes point of law
• Legislative Source - This is a document which contains a basic description of a piece of legislation and links to the detailed documents relating to that legislation
• Media Document - this is a document which contains an image or copy of a document external to the PNLD system
• News - this is a document which contains a regular news update - old news will be searched as well as the current news

You can also click on `select all’ or `clear all’ at the end of the list to reset your selections.

This section of the screen allows you to choose how many documents will be displayed.

If you choose a low number the screen will be displayed more quickly but, if there are a lot of documents returned, you may need to page through a number of screens to find the document you want. If you choose a higher number the screen will be displayed slightly more slowly but you will have more documents displayed on one screen from which you can make your selection. The number of times you need to page forwards and backwards between screens will be reduced.

This section of the screen allows you to choose whether to display only current documents or whether future or previous documents should be displayed.

Every document in the system has a start date and may have an end date which indicates its validity. For example a piece of legislation which is due to come into force in a month’s time will be published with it’s start date set to that future date or an offence which ceases to be valid will remain on the system but will have an end date.

If you choose in-force documents only then only documents which are currently valid will be displayed. We recommend that this is the option which is normally chosen.

If you choose not in-force documents only then only documents which have a start date in the future or an end date in the past will be displayed. These cannot be relied on as a statement of the current position but may be useful for research or historical purposes. Any not in-force document which is viewed will display a large re warning banner to ensure that there is no confusion over its status.

This section of the screen allows you to limit where in the system you search for your documents.

Most documents in the system are assigned to `categories’. On the left hand side of the screen is a menu which consists of a list of categories. Clicking onto these menu items shows sub categories and, once a lower level category is chosen, the documents in that category are displayed and can be viewed.

In most cases when you use this search screen all categories will be searched and documents will be displayed regardless of which category they appear in. However, if you have navigated through the categories in the left hand menu but have not found what you wanted and then click on the Search button this selection will appear at the bottom of the search screen.

If you take no action the search will look across all categories as normal. However, if you know that the document you require must be in the category you have a selected, or in a sub category underneath that category then select the `Search category name only’ option. When the search is carried out the system will look only in that category and any sub-categories underneath it. This can be a helpful way to reduce the number of results if your original search is too wide.

When you click the Search button at either the top or bottom of the screen the search will be carried out according to the criteria you have entered.

If only one document meets your search criteria it will be displayed immediately.

If more than one document is found new sections will appear at the bottom of the screen. The search criteria you have entered will be hidden but can be redisplayed by clicking the plus sign (`+’) at the top left of the screen.

Some words and phrases are often used incorrectly or we have been advised that people use specific words and do not find what they are looking for. We have tried to cater for this by holding a database of common search criteria and alternatives which may be more successful. If any of these are available they will be displayed at the top of your search results.

For example, if you search for `roadway’ and we know that most legislation would use the word `highway’, when the search is carried out any documents which do contain the word `roadway’ will be displayed but we will also display the word `highway’ at the top of the results as a blue, underlined clickable link. If the displayed search results do not contain the information you were looking for click on the underlined word and the search will be repeated using the suggested word, with all other criteria remaining unchanged.

Not all searches will have alternative suggestions. We will continue to build up this database using the feedback from our users, so any suggestions you have for inclusion would be welcome.

The search results are initially displayed in order of relevance.

It is possible to change the order of the display of the search results by clicking the appropriate button at the top of the screen.

• Alphabetically - will list the documents in alphabetical order of the document title.
• By Document Type - will list the documents in the following order:
• Legislative Source
• Legal Topic
• Offence Wording
• Case Law
• News
• Any others
Within these types the documents will be in order of document id.
• By Document Id - will list the documents in strict numerical order of document id.
• By Category - will split the documents into the different categories under which they are listed in the system.

As well as the document id and title the first 30 words of the main information in the document is displayed to help you to determine whether a particular document is the one you are looking for.

It is possible to move through the search results by using the Next and Previous buttons. If you wish to return to the first page of results you can either use the Previous button to move back through the screens or click the Search button again, which will redisplay the search results from the start.

If you do not need to change any search criteria then, instead of using the main, Search screen you can use the Quick Search, which is accessed using the Quick Search field at the top right of all screens.

This search searches on an ‘All of the words’ basis (see above).

Simply enter the text you wish to search for, or the document reference if you know it, in the field and click ‘Go’. The search will be carried out. If only one document is found, for example if the reference is entered, then the document will be displayed. Otherwise the search results screen will be displayed in the same way as when the main search is used.

If you wish to restrict your Quick Search to look for offence wordings only check the ‘Offence Wordings Only’ field alongside the Quick Search text field, before clicking ‘Go’ and the search results will be restricted to Offence Wordings.

Categories

It is also possible to browse through the categories of documents to locate what you are looking for.

To browse through the categories first of all choose the appropriate menu item on the left hand side of the page. For example `Legislation’ or `Offence Wordings’.

A new page will be displayed which will list more categories - choose the most appropriate category for the document you are seeking. There may be sub-categories under this level - in each case simply click on the option which seems most appropriate.

At the bottom level of the category hierarchy a page will be displayed listing the document reference numbers and titles of all documents in that category. If you can see the document which you are seeking click on it to view it. Otherwise you can navigate back up the category list by clicking on the links to higher level categories which is displayed at the top of the screen or can click on Search to carry out a search either in this category or all categories.

Some screens may show an A to Z list at the top of the screen - this is just to aid navigation - click on the letter of the alphabet to display all categories or document titles starting with that letter.