HC Deb 05 March 1951 vol 485 c14
27. Mr. Rankin

asked the Minister of Transport what steps, following the report of the inquiry on 20th October into Glasgow omnibus accidents, he proposes to take to reduce the risk of such accidents in the future.

Mr. Barnes

My consideration of the report of this inquiry has not revealed any feature common to these accidents or special to any one of them on which specific remedial steps could usefully be based.

Mr. Rankin

Am I then to understand that the committee made no recommendations at all which might have helped to avoid such accidents in future? Second, can my right hon. Friend say why the reports of this committee are secret and are not being published, as happens in the case of railway and air accidents?

Mr. Barnes

It is not customary to publish reports of this type of inquiry, but I can assure my hon. Friend I have read all these reports very carefully and there is no feature common to them. They concerned a series of different accidents and, therefore, there is nothing upon which I could base a policy.

Mr. Rankin

Do I understand, then, that the committee failed to make any recommendations which would afford guidance on how these accidents might be avoided?

Mr. Barnes

I can only repeat there was nothing common to the accidents upon which they could base any recommendations.