HC Deb 30 July 1956 vol 557 cc1000-7

Lords Amendment: In page 3, line 27, after "road" insert "at any time".

Mr. Molson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment. There are several of these Amendments, which are paving Amendments, before we come to the substantive Amendment. There is this one in line 27, and then there is an Amendment in page 3, to leave out line 30 and to insert appropriate period before the said time". Again in Clause 2 there are two paving Amendments in page 4, namely, in line 14, to leave out from "within" to "before" in line 16 and to insert "the appropriate period"; and in line 17, at the end to insert: (6) In this section the expression 'appropriate period' means a period of twelve months or such shorter period as may be prescribed. It is only when we come to page 4, line 22, that we come to the substantive Amendment, namely, in line 22, at the end to insert: (7) Where within the appropriate period after the issue of a test certificate, but not earlier than one month before the end of that period, a further test certificate is issued as respects the same vehicle, the further certificate shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if issued at the end of the said appropriate period. (9) For the purpose of spreading the work of issuing certificates in contemplation of the coming into operation of this section or of a change in the length of the appropriate period—

  1. (a) the order appointing a day for the coming into operation of this section may appoint different days as respects vehicles registered as mentioned in subsection (2) of this section at different times;
  2. (b) the regulations changing the length of the appropriate period may be made so as to come into operation on different days as respects vehicles first registered under either of the enactments mentioned in the said subsection (2) at different times."
Would it be agreeable to you, Mr. Speaker, that we should discuss all these Amendments together?

Mr. Speaker

Yes, I think that would be a convenient course. I shall have to put the Question, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment" separately on each of them.

Mr. Molson

I am much obliged. These Amendments have two objectives. The one in subsection (8) deals with the first of these. Under Clause 2, as it stands, when test certificates become obligatory, a motorist will have to get a new one after twelve months have gone by since the last one was issued, or, if the period of twelve months is reduced, as mentioned in the new subsection (6), after the reduced period has gone by. It will be necessary for him, therefore, to take his car to a testing station some days before the time will come when he will have to have a new test certificate. Unless the Clause is amended, his new test certificate will last for only twelve months, or for the reduced period, reckoned from the day of issue of his current certificate, and he would lose the benefit of the period when he could have driven with his old certificate which had not expired.

The new subsection (8) provides that in this sort of case, if the motorist brings his car for tests within one month before the end of the appropriate period, the new certificate may be treated for the purpose of Clause 2 as if it had been issued at the end of the appropriate period. This is something to meet the convenience of the administration and of the people concerned, to enable this testing to be spread over a period of time. The new certificate will have a duration from the time when the old certificate expired. The purpose of the Amendment is to encourage the motorist who has to obtain a test certificate on a given day to go to a testing station for the renewal of his certificate on any day within the month prior to the day on which his current certificate will cease to be valid. I hope that will commend itself to the House.

The new subsection (9) will enable the Minister to bring Clause 2 into effect on different days for vehicles of different ages. We have been pressed from the Opposition to introduce this compulsory testing as soon as it is reasonably possible so to do. We have given that assurance. Obviously, at a time when it is being introduced, it is desirable—if I may use a traffic expression—to stagger the time when the new obligation comes into operation for various vehicles. Under this new subsection the Minister can, for example, appoint the 1st July as the day after which it would be an offence for vehicles registered twenty years ago to be used on the road without a test certificate, and 1st May for vehicles registered only seventeen to twenty years earlier and so on, until all vehicles registered ten years or more earlier had been included. Similarly, if and when the Minister makes regulations reducing the appropriate period, that is to say, when we are able to test vehicles which are newer than ten years old, he may make regulations bringing the new requirements into operation on different days for vehicles of different ages.

The real object of this is to enable the load of work at testing stations which may arise when Clause 2 is first brought into operation to be spread over a period. I believe that it will both expedite the time when we are able to bring it into operation, and it will make for the convenience of those owners of cars who are first brought under this obligation.

Mr. Ernest Davies

After the Parliamentary Secretary's explanation, I now understand the series of Amendments. I defy any hon. Member on reading the Notice Paper and studying it to have understood precisely what these Amendments were aimed at. I take it that under the Clause as it will be amended the longest period for which a test certificate will be valid will be thirteen months. It appears that there will be an additional month during which it will be possible for the test certificate to be valid and enable the motorist to apply for his registration on the 1st January or whatever the date is.

Mr. Molson

No; it will, in fact, operate the other way. He will be able to have his vehicle tested before the expiry of the first twelve months, and his new certificate will be valid for twelve months from the time when the old test certificate would have ceased to be valid. It is not that he is to be allowed to delay beyond the twelve months, but he may have the test carried out before the completion of the period during which his first test certificate is valid.

Mr. Ernest Davies

In no case would the test certificate be valid when his registration after a period of twelve months came up for renewal. That is what I think it amounts to.

The only other point arises on this administrative arrangement under subsection (9), it being the intention of the Government to fix a date for the oldest vehicles first and then to stagger them, as the Parliamentary Secretary said, right down until the ten-year-old vehicles come under the test. In other words, it would be the oldest vehicles which would have the first date for a test and then, as the years were advanced, we should reach the cars which were ten years old.

I should be pleased if the Joint Parliamentary Secretary could give an undertaking, or at least an indication, that the period over which it is proposed to stagger the introduction of the test will not be a long one and that it will not be used as an excuse or opportunity for extending considerably the period over which vehicles will be subject to test. I hope that only a few months at the absolute maximum would elapse between a vehicle, say, 15 years old and vehicles 10 years old being subject to the test, otherwise it might be a matter of years before cars which are only 10 years old become subject to it. If the Parliamentary Secretary is able to give an indication of when it is expected that the first test will be compulsory, the House would be grateful.

Mr. Molson

I cannot say when it will be possible to introduce the tests. As regards the more limited point first raised by the hon. Member, it is difficult to say how long the period of spread-over will have to be but we would not expect that it would be more than twelve months.

Further Lords Amendment agreed to: In page 3, leave out line 30 and insert: appropriate period before the said time".

Lords Amendment: In page 4, line 9, at end insert: (5) The Minister may by regulations exempt from subsection (1) of this section the use of vehicles in any such area as may be prescribed.

Mr. Speaker

This involves a matter of privilege. If the House agrees to it, I will cause a Special Entry to be made.

Mr. Molson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

The purpose of the Amendment is to enable the Minister by regulation to exempt from the need for a test certificate a vehicle which is used in an area where the trouble and expense of setting up testing arrangements and insisting on a test certificate would not be justified. The kind of place which we have in mind is the Islands of the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. I can give an assurance that these wide powers will not be used to defeat the purpose of the Clause. I hope that the Amendment will commend itself to the House as being practical and reasonable.

Mr. Ernest Davies

I should like to ask one question which has been worrying me a little. What would happen if there were an exempted area in, say, the North of Scotland—not the islands—and persons registered their cars in that area and then moved into a different registration area where vehicles were subject to the test? Would there be an opportunity for people to escape having their cars tested by obtaining their registration in one area and then moving to another? The Government should consider this and see whether they cannot guard against evasion of the test by this means.

Mr. Molson

The hon. Gentleman will have observed that the power is to be exercised by means of regulations. It will not be beyond the wit of the draftsman so to draft the regulations that when a vehicle moves out of North Uist, or whatever the island may be, it comes under an obligation to be tested before it is used elsewhere.

Question put and agreed to.—[Special Entry.] Lords Amendment: In page 4, line 13, leave out "production of" and insert: either—

  1. (a) the production of such evidence as may be prescribed of the granting of an effective test certificate or (if it is so prescribed) the production of such a certificate, or
  2. (b) the making of such a declaration as may be prescribed that the vehicle is not intended to be used during the period for which the licence is to be in force except for a purpose prescribed under subsection (4), or in an area prescribed under subsection (5), of this section.

In paragraph (a) of this subsection the expression 'effective test certificate' means, in relation 1o an application for a licence for a vehicle,".

Mr. Molson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

Subsection (5) of the Clause as at present worded gives the Minister power to make regulations making it obligatory, where an application for an Excise licence for a vehicle is made, for the valid test certificate to be produced. Having regard to the present and increasing burden on the local taxation authorities responsible for the issue of Excise licences, it is essential to reduce to the minimum the amount of work which will be involved in having the licence system as a check that vehicles have passed a test within the preceding twelve months.

7.45 p.m.

The Minister is therefore most anxious that he should have as flexible a power as possible so that he could call for either the production of the actual test certificate, which is all that is provided for under the Bill as drafted, or, alternatively, the production of prescribed evidence of the granting of an effective test certificate. That might take the form of a stamp or a statement on the registration book or—this is, perhaps, the more likely—the inclusion in the form of application for an Excise licence of a statement that an effective test certificate has been obtained. Necessary details of it would be given to enable the accuracy of the statement to be checked.

Moreover, there will be cases under the regulations made under subsection (4) or under the new subsection (5) where classes of vehicles within the larger classes liable as a whole will not be required to be submitted for tests. In such cases, the Amendment will enable the task of the local taxation authorities to be made easier by allowing the Minister to require the owner of a vehicle to make a declaration that the vehicle is intended to be used only for an exempted purpose under subsection (4) or in an exempted area under the new subsection (5) to which we have just been referring.

The purpose of the Amendment is clearly to introduce a certain flexibility into the actual procedure in order again to reduce to a minimum the necessary complexity and difficulty of introducing the compulsory testing system.

Further Lords Amendments agreed to: In page 4, line 14, leave out from "within" to "before" in line 16 and insert "the appropriate period".

In line 17, at end insert: (6) In this section the expression 'appropriate period' means a period of twelve months or such shorter period as may be prescribed.

In line 22, at end insert: (7) Where within the appropriate period after the issue of a test certificate, but not earlier than one month before the end of that period, a further test certificate is issued as respects the same vehicle, the further certificate shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if issued at the end of the said appropriate period. (9) For the purpose of spreading the work of issuing certificates in contemplation of the coming into operation of this section or of a change in the length of the appropriate period—

  1. a) the order appointing a day for the coming into operation of this section may appoint different days as respects vehicles registered as mentioned in subsection (2) of this section at different times;
  2. (b) the regulations changing the length of the appropriate period may be made so as to come into operation on different days as respects vehicles first registered under either of the enactments mentioned in the said subsection (2) at different times."