Clause 29 - Compulsory surrender of old-form licences
Road Safety Bill
2:38 pm
Mr Greg Knight (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; East Yorkshire, Conservative)
Subject to what the Minister has to say, I rise to support the amendment of the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso), who represents half of Scotland. He made several excellent points. The more one reflects on this debate, the more one is forced to ask why the clause appears in the Bill. Is it in any way related to an EU directive that will require the Minister to call in our old licences and issue them in a new format? Incidentally, I was not aware that the hon. Gentleman was approaching his 70th birthday, but I am sure that we all wish him well.
The question is why individual drivers should have to pay a fee because the state now does not like the form of licence that it issued previously. In essence, that is what the clause is about. The hon. Gentleman made a very good case, and unless the Minister advances an argument that I have not thought of, I am minded to support him.