Schedule 1 - Increase in maximum fines for
Traffic Management Bill
11:00 am
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
Is my right hon. Friend inviting me to fine him £5,000 for being a little late this morning? My colleagues in the Whips Office would be delighted if I came back bearing that amount of money in the course of a morning's activities.
To pick on an issue such as a general duty to co-operate for the highest level of fine—£5,000—is to get our priorities dreadfully mixed up. There are safety issues, works issues, and issues relating to interfering with other people's equipment, none of which necessarily attracts that size of fine. Can the Minister justify including those offences in the schedule at all, let alone the level of fine to which he wants us to agree?