§ Where a licence has been taken out in respect of any mechanically propelled vehicle to which section twelve and the Third Schedule of the Finance Act, 1926, and section six of the Finance Act, 1930, apply and during the currency of the licence the vehicle is entirely fitted with pneumatic tyres in place of solid tyres the holder of the licence shall be entitled to repayment from the licensing authority of a proportionate amount of the licence duty for the remainder of the year representing the difference between the rate of duty on a vehicle entirely fitted with pneumatic tyres and a vehicle not so fitted.—[Lord Apsley.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ Lord APSLEYI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
Most hon. Members have seen the progressive destruction of the roads by solid-tyred vehicles, steam lorries travelling at excessive speed and generally over the same stretch of road, often carrying the very materials with which to reconstruct the road over which they travel. I am sure that hon. Members would be only too willing to support anything which would facilitate the conversion of these solid-tyred vehicles into pneumatic-tyred vehicles. At the same time there is no doubt that there is considerable difficulty about such conversion. The owners are faced with one of those small economies which Whitehall is rather apt to indulge in, in order to save a few thousand pounds, and a great deal of annoyance is caused.
695 Under the present procedure, the owner of the solid-tyred vehicle who wishes to convert his vehicle to pneumatic tyres has first of all to surrender his existing licence and claim repayment of part of the licence duty. A reduction is made of a proportionate amount. But the owner does not get the full amount of the duty over the unexpired period. Further, he has to pay a fee of 10s. and go through a considerable amount of formality. As all owners of motors know, there is great difficulty and bother in getting licences at any time of year and after the procedure which I have described he has to take out a new licence for the remainder of the year, which is charged at a higher rate of duty. This Amendment is framed to enable him to take out a licence at any time of year and possibly my right hon. and gallant Friend would consider next year extending it to private car owners as well. The system of taking out licences is not satisfactory for people who use cars only in the holiday season, for instance, or doctors who use their cars for a short period and then lay them up. There is a great deal of unnecessary correspondence and the owner is "done down" every time, as far as money is concerned. I hope the Minister will give consideration to these points.
§ Mr. PYBUSI quite appreciate the point of the Noble Lord regarding the importance of accelerating as far as possible the change from solid tyres to pneumatic tyres but I think that if he looks at the figures he will find that the present procedure allows that change to be accomplished and that in fact the object of the proposed new Clause is very well met under the existing arrangements.
For example in the case of a solid-tyred vehicle with an annual duty of £60, if the change to pneumatic tyres takes place at the end of the first six months the Member will find that the only loss in the existing system of change of licence as compared with the proposed rebate would be a sum of £l 14s. In regard to vehicles generally, it will be found that the difference is not serious. With that brief explanation I would ask the Noble Lord to accept my assurance that we will keep the point in mind and I hope he will see his way to withdraw this proposed new Clause.
§ Lord APSLEYIf the hon. Gentleman will assure the Committee, that the Ministry are taking the matter into consideration and that they will review in the near future the whole system of licensing in order to simplify it, both as regards heavy lorries and privately owned cars, I will ask leave to withdraw.
§ Motion and Clause, by leave, withdraw.