Clause 86 - Interpretation

Part of Railways and Transport Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:45 am on 4 March 2003.

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Photo of John Randall John Randall Opposition Whip (Commons) 10:45, 4 March 2003

In a discussion on an earlier clause I raised a question about hovercraft that was not addressed. While waiting for the answer, I also thought of amphibious vehicles. There is a commercial tourist operation that sometimes travels around the roads of Westminster and then goes down into the river. In this interpretation, are such vehicles covered by the Road Traffic Act 1998 when they are

on the road and by the Bill when they go into the water? Is that covered in any of the interpretations?

Similarly, I can see that right of entry to a hovercraft is a very different matter from right of entry to an ordinary ship—with those nasty great propellers going round, and the sealed cabins. I would also like clarification regarding the definition of ''foreign ships'' and ''UK ships''. Does this relate to where the ship is registered, or who the owner is? I am thinking in particular of cross-channel ferries—or even cross-channel hovercraft, although I think that service has now stopped.

Subsection (5) defines ''drug'' as

''any intoxicant other than alcohol''.

Somebody may try and include nicotine in that. Many people would regard the nicotine in cigarettes as a drug with intoxicating effects. The heady effect of a cigarette on someone who is not used to it is well known.