Clause 42 - Vehicles modified to run on fuel stored under pressure
Road Safety Bill
6:30 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
Liquefied petroleum gas has become a very fashionable fuel. Those who have had their vehicles converted to run on LPG might be slightly concerned to read about the explosions that can result from unsatisfactory conversions. The Government's remedy is a testing regime for such adaptations
An alternative might be to ensure that those who perform the adaptations are qualified in accordance with a Government standard. Will the Minister explain the Government's approach? People will have their vehicles converted by someone whom they believe to be a reputable converter, and have them inspected by one of the new Government-appointed inspectors. The inspectors—especially those with a commercial interest in carrying out modifications—might have a motive for saying that the work had not been done properly and that something should be done to modify it. That will add cost and delay for people who wish to have their vehicles converted to LPG.
The initial idea was that the Government should offer people incentives to convert their vehicles to LPG, and it is expected that there will be as many as 100,000 LPG-powered vehicles on our roads by the end of the decade. If so, that will be a useful contribution to the environment, but I am not sure that the Government's solution will encourage people to convert to LPG; indeed, it might have the opposite effect.
If, as the notes on clauses and the regulatory impact assessment make clear, vehicles that have been modified to run on LPG, but have not been modified adequately, are a danger on the roads, how can we be sure that foreign vehicles that have been so modified are not on our roads and a danger to other road users?