It may help the hon. Gentleman to know that the VOSA inspectors have quite awesome powers at the moment, which go beyond issuing a fixed penalty. They have the power to stop a vehicle: they have liveried vehicles, and they can oblige a vehicle to pull over. They usually pull in to a weighbridge or a place where they can conduct safety inspections on the vehicles. If the examiner on the site is not satisfied that a particular vehicle is safe to be on the road, they can prohibit that vehicle from going on the road. That could be a far greater penalty to the driver and the operator than the fixed penalty.

I am glad to say that they have awesome powers. I am pleased that they have those because of the vehicles that they are stopping. When I joined them for an afternoon, one of the vehicles that was pulled in was a furniture lorry that had been badly loaded, so all the weight was at the front, and its rear brakes were not functioning at all. That vehicle was pulled in doing 50 mph on the M4. I was very pleased that the inspectors had those powers. At the moment, they would be used through the police, but the professional force that we have will do a good job and work within the code of practice. Of course, even stopping a vehicle and prohibiting it from being on the road is challengeable in the courts, if an operator feels that someone has operated beyond their powers.