§ 38. Mrs. Leah Manningasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions the police receive for dealing with traffic during serious fog.
§ Mr. EdeAdditional police are sent, if necessary, to places of special traffic difficulty such as difficult road junctions or traffic roundabouts, and although the provisions of flares and fog lighting is a matter for the local authorities, in some areas where special fog lighting is provided police put it on if the need arises.
§ Mrs. ManningIs my right hon. Friend aware that on Friday last there was a traffic block that lasted for at least two and a half hours, and probably much longer—I had experience of it myself for two and a half hours—in the Seven Sisters Road area; that distracted drivers had their vehicles at all angles on the road, and that absolutely no attention was being paid by anyone to those conditions?
§ Mr. EdeI had some unfortunate experiences myself last Friday. I am quite certain that the police did what was possible in the circumstances, but a London fog is beyond human control.
§ Mr. W. ShepherdHaving been in the same traffic block, although not with the hon. Lady, may I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that there was widespread comment on the absence of police and that boy scouts and other citizens played the part which, I felt, the police ought to have been playing?
§ Mrs. ManningDoes my right hon. Friend really believe that this matter of control, not of the fog itself but of conditions under it, is really beyond the power of the Government, who can find methods of controlling almost everything?
§ Mr. EdeIn dealing with the forces of nature, this Government is no more powerful than was King Canute.
§ Mrs. ManningOwing to the very unfortunate reply I have just received from my right hon. Friend, and that which I received from his hon. Friend when I raised this matter about a fortnight ago, I propose to raise the whole question on the Adjournment.