asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will take steps to improve coach safety on motorways.

Yes. The safety record has been very good, but, because of our grave concern over recent accidents, we are taking steps to improve standards of both driving and vehicle construction.

Is there not some evidence that some coach drivers are being pressurised by coach operators to keep to unrealistic timetables to enable them to compete with British Rail services as a result of the Transport Act 1980? Instead of equivocating on this matter, as she has done in a number of written replies to parliamentary questions, will the hon. Lady introduce a 60 mph limit on British motorways to prevent coaches travelling at as much as 80 mph and speeding past those other road users who keep within the law?

There is no evidence for what the hon. Gentleman has said. Operators are responsible not only for the timetabling of their routes but for the fitness of their drivers. As the hon. Gentleman knows, there is already a 70 mph limit. Last week I met the officers of the traffic committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers to discuss this, and its enforcement, and this week I shall be meeting representatives of the Bus and Coach Council, the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Bus Company to discuss keeping within the law and making sure that safety standards on British coaches are maintained.