HC Deb 01 December 1927 vol 211 cc674-5
15. Sir HARRY BRITTAIN

asked the Home Secretary whether he will inquire into the desirability of employing the recently-invented safety-roller device for omnibuses and commercial vehicles?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

The device to which my hon. Friend no doubt refers has been inspected by myself personally and by the Commissioner of Police, and it is proposed to fit it experimentally on a vehicle in daily use.

Sir H. BRITTAIN

What approximately will be the cost of this device?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I cannot say. Only one has been made experimentally, and I cannot say whether it is sufficiently good until extended experiments have taken place.

Sir H. BRITTAIN

Is it in any way satisfactory?

Mr. HARRIS

Has the right hon. Gentleman not parliamentary powers to enforce the use of this device on vehicles?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

If in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police the device is so good as to make it necessary in the public welfare, I think he would be entitled to make it a condition of a licence for a vehicle. With regard to the other supplementary question, I think that the experiment which I saw was made only with dummy men, and I cannot express any further opinion as to its actual use.