§ After Clause 6, page 5, line 18, at end insert the following new clause—
§ Suspension of s. 31 (1) of Road Traffic Act, 1934, and consequential provisions
§ (" .—(1) The operation of subsection (1) of section thirty-one of the Road Traffic Act, 1934 (which provides that a person shall not drive a heavy goods vehicle en a road unless he is licensed for the purpose under that section or is licensed under Part IV of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, to drive alt types of single-deck public service vehicles, and that a person shall not employ any person, who is not so licensed, to drive a heavy goods vehicle on a road), is hereby suspended until such day as the Minister of Transport may by order appoint (hereafter in this section referred to as 'the appointed day').
§ (2) On the first application for a licence made, on or after the day of the making of the order whose making is authorised by the foregoing subsection, by a person who satisfies the licensing authority that in the course of the year ending on that day he has been, during 999 any period or periods of, or amounting in the aggregate to, six months, in the habit of driving a heavy goods vehicle, and on payment of the fee prescribed under the said section thirty-one, the licensing authority shall grant the licence, and the provisions of subsection (5) of that section (which empowers the licensing authority to require the applicant for a licence to satisfy him as to the applicant's competence to drive by subjection to a test) shall not apply in relation to such an application.
§ (3) The said subsection (1) shall not have effect as respects the driving of a heavy goods vehicle of any class by a person who, at the beginning of the appointed day, is the holder of a licence granted under Part I of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, authorising him to drive a heavy goods vehicle of that class or as respects the employment, to drive a heavy goods vehicle of any class, of a person who, at the beginning of the appointed day is the holder of such a licence authorising him to drive a heavy goods vehicle of that class, so long as (in either case) the licence in question remains in force.
§ (4) With a view to spreading the work of granting licences, the licensing authority may, on an application for a licence made within the period of four years beginning with the day of the making of the order whose making is authorised by subsection (1) of this section, direct that any licence granted on the application (other than a licence issued as a provisional licence) shall, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (7) of the said section thirty-one (which provides that a licence shall, unless previously revoked, continue in force for three years), unless previously revoked, continue in force during such period, being a period of not less than one nor more than three years from the date on which the licence is expressed to take effect, as the licensing authority may at the time of the granting of the licence determine.
§ (5) Nothing in subsection (2) of this section shall be construed as prejudicing the operation of subsection (6) of the said section thirty-one (which entitles a person to the grant of a licence in the circumstances therein mentioned).
§ (6) For the purposes of this section the expression 'licence' means (save where that expression is used in subsection (3) of this section) a licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle granted under section thirty-one of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, and the expressions 'licensing authority' and 'heavy goods vehicle' have the same meanings as they have for the purposes of that section.")
THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, this is a long clause which suspends Section 31 (1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, and makes consequential provisions. As I understand this has the agreement of the House, I can state shortly what this clause does. Your Lordships will remember that under the Act of 1934 it was necessary that a special licence should be taken out for the driving of heavy goods vehicles. That I system was put into cold storage, if I 1000 may use that term, early in the war by means of an Order under the Defence (General) Regulations 72 (1). It is not possible to say when or whether it will be desirable to reintroduce the pre-war arrangements for these vocational licences. At the present time reasons of economy are decisively against it. Later on, there may be a conflict of view as to whether it will be desirable to reintroduce this system, and I think I can reassure your Lordships by saying that there is no evidence that the suspension of these licences has had any adverse effect on public safety. Since the scheme entails substantial administrative overhead charges, including arrangements for the testing of drivers, it would plainly be necessary to be satisfied that the balance of public interest requires the resuscitation of the scheme before it is again brought into effect.
If and when the scheme is reintroduced, there will be a very large number of people who will have to take out these special licences. It will surprise your Lordships to learn that there are over 100,000 vehicles in respect of which these licences would have to be taken out, and there are almost three times as many drivers—280,000. Accordingly, there must be a long preliminary period of staggering the process of issuing licences, and in this measure, which provides for a suspension of Section 31 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, and for bringing that section into force again in the future if and when it is desired to do so, we find administrative provisions for the transitional period. Unless there are any questions your Lordships may wish to ask, I do not think it is necessary to say any more. I beg to move that this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendment—(The Lord Chancellor).
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.