HC Deb 15 November 2000 vol 356 c1033

Lords amendment: No. 111, to insert the following new clause—Substitute services to be suitable for disabled passengers—

".—(1) This section applies where—

  1. (a) a person who provides services for the carriage of passengers by railway provides or secures the provision of substitute road services, or
  2. (b) the Authority secures the provision of such services (under an agreement entered into in pursuance of section 202).

(2) In doing so the person or Authority shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the substitute road services allow disabled passengers to undertake their journeys safely and in reasonable comfort.

(3) In the event of any failure by the person or Authority to comply with subsection (2), he or it shall be liable to pay damages in respect of any expenditure reasonably incurred, or other loss sustained, by a disabled passenger in consequence of the failure.

(4) The Secretary of State may by order grant exemption from subsection (2) to—

  1. (a) any class or description of persons who provide services for the carriage of passengers by railway, or
  2. (b) any particular person who provides such services,
in respect of all substitute road services or any class or description of such services.

(5) Before making an order under subsection (4) the Secretary of State shall consult—

  1. (a) the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, and
  2. (b) such other representative organisations as he thinks fit.

(6) An order under subsection (4) shall be made by statutory instrument which shall he subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(7) In this section "substitute road services" means services for the carriage of passengers by road which are provided where railway services have been temporarily interrupted or discontinued.

(8) For the purposes of this section a passenger is disabled if he has a disability, or has suffered an injury, which seriously impairs his ability to walk."

Mr. Hill

I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

The amendment is designed to ensure that when substitute road services are provided in place of railway services, the substitutes will be suitable for passengers with mobility problems. The amendment meets an undertaking given in Committee, and I commend this new duty as an honourable advance.

Lords amendment agreed to.