Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 12:24 pm on 2 March 2007.

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Photo of Stephen Ladyman Stephen Ladyman Minister of State, Department for Transport 12:24, 2 March 2007

I entirely agree. My hon. Friend's point relates to one made by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley, who said that he was in favour of the bikes being registered and having to display a number plate. Frankly, whatever benefits the Bill would deliver would come only if the bikes had a number plate. I see that my hon. Friend Lyn Brown agrees. However, are law-abiding people, who register their bikes and are prepared to put a number plate on them, the sort to drive away from a policeman when he asks them to stop?

The fact is that the people who would disobey the proposed law are those whom the police officers in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley are chasing. They would still be chasing them if the Bill was enacted. How we go about safely apprehending miscreants is a key point that we need to investigate. Several hon. Members have said that, and I agree. There is a weakness there; a kid, who may be very young, cannot be chased because they might have an accident and the officer might also have one during the pursuit. However, a registration system is not the answer, because that kid will not be displaying a number plate.

One reason why I want to take this issue offline and let the Government address it properly is that I want to sit down with the police and ask them what techniques, powers and instruments they really need if they are to tackle the problem safely. My hon. Friend the Member for West Ham identified a problem, but the Bill is not the way to solve it.