Schedule 1 - Increase in maximum fines for
Traffic Management Bill
11:00 am
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)
I am disappointed that the Minister thinks it useless to refer to the very genuine concerns of the RNIB about the need for a level playing field when protecting street works and preventing danger to blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Surely the provision should apply to all authorities. The Minister's last point was to ridicule the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne rightly expressed. There is all the difference in the world between the contents of this schedule and the schedule to the 1991 Act, taking into account the fixed penalty regime that is to follow. Under the 1991 Act, the maximum penalties were not automatic, but they were subject to the discretion of the magistrates. If the lighting around a structure on the highway was removed by vandals, the person responsible for the lighting could be prosecuted under the 1991 Act, but if he could show that despite his best endeavours the lighting had been removed by vandals, probably no penalty would be imposed—indeed, he might not even be prosecuted. Under the regime that the Minister is linking in with schedule 1—the fixed penalty notice regime—if the lighting around some street works was removed by vandals, it would not be a question of whether a prosecution would be reasonable or what level of fine would be appropriate; the fixed penalty
notice regime would click in, and the local authority would be able to say, ''That is another £500. Let's tick that one off, and put the money in the coffers.'' That is why the substantially increased—