Clause 4 - Powers to direct traffic officers
Traffic Management Bill
3:30 pm
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
The right hon. Member for East Yorkshire asked whether a constable would need to be in uniform to give a direction to a traffic officer. It is my understanding that a constable is someone who is always on duty and who therefore could, in the appropriate circumstances, give that instruction at the site of an incident whether in uniform or not. If I am wrong on that, I am sure that somebody will correct me.
Traffic officers will be employed by the Highways Agency and will work with all the training, protocols and job description set out by the agency. However, there must be clear protocols to govern how Highways Agency contractors assist the police at incidents on the road, as happens now. Two sets of people cannot be in charge at an incident. The clause ensures that a police constable is in charge at the incident and will instruct
the traffic officer, as appropriate. Traffic officers would not be under the control of the police in their general work, but where there is an interface between the two, the police constable has supremacy.