HC Deb 25 June 1980 vol 987 cc673-4

Lords amendment: No. 33, in page 23, line 27, leave out from first "of" to end of line 33 and insert—

  1. "(a) any relevant conviction of the holder; and
  2. (b) any relevant conviction of any officer, employee or agent of the holder for an offence committed in the course of the holder's road passenger transport business, and to do so within 28 days of the conviction in the case of a conviction of the holder or his transport manager and within 28 days of the conviction coming to the holder's knowledge in any other case."

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

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

This amendment restricts the scope of "relevant conviction" for the purpose of clause 23. It narrows in particular the scope of relevant convictions for officers, employees or agents of the licence holder. Relevant convictions for the purpose of this clause will now be offences committed in the course of the holder's road passenger transport business. That seems eminently reasonable, and avoids the risk to an operator who might be in trouble for failing to notify some conviction that has been incurred by one of his employees in his private life.

Mr. Booth

I welcome this amendment, which responds in great measure to the concern we expressed in Committee that if the Bill had passed out of this House in the same way as it entered employers who were public service vehicle operators would have been under an obligation to inform the traffic commissioner of all sorts of offences committed by their employees, even if those employees were not in the public transport part of the business. That would have given rise to all sorts of difficulties. This amendment restricts the obligation on those employers to notify the commissioner of offences committed by the employee only if the conviction relates to an offence committed in the course of the business and then only in the course of that part of the business relating to passenger transport. That is a considerable improvement, and it is very welcome.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords amendment No. 34 agreed to.

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