Clause 29 - Compulsory surrender of old-form licences
Road Safety Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
We are almost reaching unanimity. I support the amendment, and if the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross had not tabled it, I would have tabled a similar one.
The Government are trying to undermine a principle. Once one has obtained a licence for a fixed period, one must not only surrender it, but pay for the privilege of having a replacement supplied under a requirement from the European Union or from this Government. It is wrong in principle that someone who has a licence and looks after it perfectly well should have to pay for a replacement. That is not what happens with bank cards or any other document when the provider decides to replace it. Replacement of a licence because the driver is at fault is a completely different matter. If the clause is not amended, it will amount—the Minister is waiting for me to say this—to another stealth tax.