Clause 32 - Driving instruction
Road Safety Bill
3:56 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
The explanatory notes on clause 32, which gives rise to schedule 4, state:
''driving instructors have to be registered if they give paid instruction of any prescribed description. This enables the existing provision regarding paid driving instruction in the driving of motor cars to be extended, by regulation, to other motor vehicle types in addition to motor cars, for example, driving instruction in respect of lorries, buses and motorcycles.''
What is the justification for that extension in regulation?
People who run courses for those who wish to get a heavy goods vehicle licence and bus companies that want to train drivers are concerned that their regime would be much better if it were applied to driving instructors—in other words, if driving instructors were deregulated in the same way that their sector is relatively deregulated. However, the Government seem to be going in the opposite direction. They are introducing more controls and are doing so without any justification.
One of the biggest concerns is the need for people to get quick access to training. If people want to engage in a career change and to train to use a heavy goods vehicle, they want to get that instruction straight away, get their qualification and go on the road. At the moment, as I understand it, there are substantial delays in getting a test for a heavy goods vehicle or a bus. As a result, the potential drivers of those vehicles do not own them themselves and have to hire them from the people who are training them, which creates additional delay and expense. Indeed, there have been cases in which, for no apparent reason, the arranged times for such tests have suddenly been cancelled on the basis that conditions might be slippery. As a consequence, the total cost falls on the individual who is trying to improve his finances by becoming an HGV driver. Hon. Members will be aware of the overall shortage of HGV drivers. With the new drivers hours regulations, there is an even greater need for well qualified HGV drivers.
Surely we should be deregulating and encouraging more people to go into the business of training lorry drivers. We should also be thinking about deregulating the whole system of lorry driving testing so that it can be carried out close to the time when someone is ready for the test, rather than delaying it for weeks or months, at the behest of the monopoly provider of such services, which is, inevitably, what the agency is. The clause raises some important issues and I would be grateful if the Minister could justify the increased regulation.