Clause 6 - Appeals
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Michael Fabricant (Lichfield, Conservative)
I rise to support the amendment.
We have already established in Committee today that the sort of company that would be registered could be a small one. It might well be a sole trader; the Minister has already confirmed that fact. I think that he has assured the Committee—he has certainly managed to assure me—that if a business were not trading simply because someone was abroad, either on business or on holiday, it would not be struck off. Nevertheless, a business might be struck off for reasonable causes and not because of any miscreance or breach of the criminal law by the company or partnership.
I can envisage a business in crisis as a result of the issue of an announcement that it might be struck off the register. I can imagine a sole trader, perhaps working with his wife and struggling with cash-flow difficulties or creditors, receiving a great deal of mail, all of which might not receive his immediate attention.