§ Mr. WatkinsonI beg to move, in page 12, line 41, to leave out from "vehicle" to the end of line 42 and insert:
having been left in the parking place, remains there at the beginning of any".The purpose of the Amendment is to secure that if a car is left in a parking place which operates by day and night, as many will, and is not taken away before the beginning of the next period of operation—is left, say, at a parking place in operation from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and is still there at 8 a.m.—it shall be treated as having been left there at the beginning of the second period of operation-8 a.m. In other words, the Amendment makes the driver liable for a second charge which he may otherwise escape.Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI beg to move, in page 12, line 44, after "Act", to insert:
then without prejudice to any rights accrued or liabilities incurred in respect of anything previously done or omitted".This Amendment is the reverse of the previous Amendment, and says that if the vehicle was left in a parking place during the previous period of operation the driver is thus liable for any charge in the previous period which he has not paid.Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. MolsonI beg to move, in page 13, line 3, to leave out "or" and insert:
and such an order as aforesaid, or an order or regulation containing such a designation".There are already statutory provisions for parking places on the highway. Section 10 of the London Traffic Act and the Third Schedule to that Act, as amended by Section 63 of the London Passenger 554 Transport Act, 1933, enable the Minister to make regulations authorising parking places on highways inside the London traffic area. The provisions of other Acts enable the same thing to be done in the provinces. In this case no charge can be made for any parking on the highway which is authorised under those provisions.Under this Bill for the first time it will be lawful to make a charge for parking on the highway. It may often be desirable, either permanently or temporarily, to transfer a parking place from one category to the other. It may be thought desirable to substitute for parking at one place on the highway free of charge a parking place according to the provisions of the Bill, where a payment will have to be made. Alternatively, it may prove convenient to provide at some place on the highway that parking should take place on payment only during a crowded period; for example, in the summer at a seaside resort, with free parking in the winter. If the procedures for making regulations and orders under the statutory provisions that I have already mentioned and under this Bill were entirely separate, the conversion of parking places of one kind into the other kind would involve a double procedure.
9.30 p.m.
Under one of the statutes to which I have referred, and under the Bill, it would be necessary to have two separate orders. The Amendment provides that to suspend the use of parking places during any time when that place is in order as a parking place under the Bill, a single order may suffice.
Amendment agreed to.
Further Amendment made: In page 13, line 5, leave out "by the order" and insert "under this Act".—[Mr. Molson.]
§ Mr. WatkinsonI beg to move, in page 13, line 9, at the end to insert:
(4) Such an order as aforesaid may exempt from the payment of any charge vehicles left in the parking place in such circumstances as may be specified in the order, subject however to any conditions so specified.This is what I always remember as being what I called the Post Office van Amendment. It enables me, as respects short-term parking places, to leave a gap in the parking area where delivery vans Ind Post Office vans may properly come 555 and discharge or collect their loads without being subject to parking requirements. It is a very necessary provision.
§ Mr. Ernest DaviesI agree with the Minister that this is a very necessary Amendment. I think that we on this side of the House drew attention in Committee to the fact that it was necessary to provide loading bays, as it were, to have access to premises. I wonder whether the Amendment can be used to meet a case mentioned by one of my hon. Friends yesterday concerning invalid carriages. It was suggested that disabled persons, driving special cars or invalid carriages, should have special arrangements made for them, otherwise they could not get to their work or get about. Perhaps the Minister would see whether the Amendment applies to them.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI certainly will. Amendment agreed to.
Further Amendments made: In page 13, line 16, after "may", insert:
as respects parking places designated as aforesaid for which there is a prescribed standard periodIn line 17, leave out "a parking place designated as aforesaid" and insert "any such parking place".—[Mr. Watkinson.]In line 23, after "to", insert:
provide for the moving, in case of emergency, of vehicles left in a parking place, to".—[Mr. Molson.]
§ Mr. MolsonI beg to move, in page I3, line 43, at the end to insert:
(c) as respects any parking place for which there is a prescribed standard period, for preventing the postponement, by the insertion of additional coins in a parking meter, of the indication of the time after which the excess charge is incurred.This is an Amendment to give effect to what I mentioned yesterday when describing the way that parking meters were expected to operate. I was then asked whether there would be anything to prevent someone who had put coins in the parking meter and had bought a period of two hours from inserting coins just before the termination of that period in order to avoid incurring the excess charge. I indicated that that would be illegal. The purpose of the Amendment is to prevent a motorist from so inserting additional coins just before the expiry of the time for which he had paid so as to 556 postpone the operation of the timeexpired indicator and thereby obtain additional parking time without incurring an excess charge. I understand that in the United States of America this is known as nickel or meter feeding. We desire to avoid that being done in this country.Amendment agreed to.