§ 39. Mr. Mathewasked the Minister of Transport if he will now review the speed limit of 30 miles per hour still applicable to unladen light goods and pick-up type light vehicles.
§ 64. Mr. Wallasked the Minister of Transport if he will now consider raising the speed limit for cars towing light trailers.
§ Mr. HayMy right hon. Friend is not yet in a position to announce his decision or these and other applications for variation of the speed limits applicable to certain classes of commercial vehicles.
§ Mr. MathewDoes my hon. Friend really suggest that the difficulty that the police have when contemplating a prosecution in establishing whether a vehicles loaded or not at the time outweighs the widespread inconvenience, irritation and nuisance of this rule?
§ Mr. HayThe matter was gone into very carefully last year. I have recently been looking into it myself. The position is by no means as simple as my hon. Friend suggests. One of the main difficulties we had was that, with regard to goods vehicles in particular, the representatives of the trade union movement were very much against any change. On a matter of this kind we have to move with general agreement if we can get it, and that is what we are sec king.
§ Mr. WallIs my hon. Friend aware that the previous Minister of Transport a year ago gave an indication that he would consider this favourably, and that it has taken a year to say that nothing has happened? Can we be doing something, particularly with regard to light trailers?
§ Mr. HayThe light trailer situation is a little different from the one dealt within the last Question. It is not easy to discriminate between various types of trailers drawn by private cars—ranging from small trailers carrying, perhaps, a dinghy up to the very large caravans. We are watching the whole position to see whether there is anything we can do about it.