§ 58. Mr. Callaghanasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what report he has now received from the Licensing Authority for the North-West Traffic Area about the allegations that illegal hours are being worked by lorry drivers employed by private firms in that area, and other complaints.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI have received a full report, the substance of which I have communicated to the hon. Member. As I have indicated to him, the allegations contained in the newspaper article which he sent me were insufficiently precise to permit of the initiation of prosecutions, or indeed to identify any alleged offender.
§ Mr. CallaghanThat is true, but were they not also symptomatic of a great deal 2068 of illegal working by lorry drivers on behalf of private enterprise lorry owners, which is growing? Therefore, will the Minister please ask his licensing authorities to take this matter seriously into consideration in order to ensure that the law is not broken in this way?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAs I told the hon. Member in the letter to which I have referred, the licensing authorities are anxious to check up on any case in which breaches of the law are suspected. But I am not prepared to follow the example of the hon. Member of drawing general deductions from a case in which in fact there was insufficient evidence to go before a court of law.
§ Mr. CallaghanWhy does the right hon. Gentleman rely on the last part of this answer? Does he not know that the information given to a newspaper reporter wasconfidential? Has he not seen an illustration of a case where a driver had been sacked for refusing to work illegal hours?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIf that is a particular case, apart from the newspaper article, the hon. Member can put down a Question about it. On the general question, I take it that he accepts that the allegations in the article in question were insufficiently precise on which to base a prosecution or, I suspect, to base charges.