Clause 32 - Driving instruction

Part of Road Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:56 pm on 1 February 2005.

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Photo of Greg Knight Greg Knight Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 3:56, 1 February 2005

I support my hon. Friend's comments. It is essential that an unnecessary bureaucracy is not created for those who undertake the tests. One complaint has been brought to my attention by a constituent who runs a haulage business. He told me that whenever a driver books in for a test, in addition to revealing the driver's details, which is understandable as the authorities need to know who they are testing, full details of the vehicle that the driver will be using for his test also have to be supplied.

My constituent finds that unnecessarily bureaucratic. Provided that the vehicle is roadworthy and of the relevant class, why do the authorities need to know the specific details of the vehicle that is to be involved in the test? That can create a problem for small businesses if the particular vehicle that they had previously nominated for the test is out on a run and is not back on time. Instead of allowing the test to go ahead with a substitute vehicle, they would have to reschedule the whole thing. That is unnecessarily bureaucratic.

Clause

A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.

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