§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the police are permitted to exercise a reasonable discretion to facilitate parking by severely disabled users of motor vehicles.]
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, the police are, along with everyone else, sympathetic towards this problem. They have very much in mind the difficulties which disabled drivers have to face and they do all they can to help them. They cannot give them a general dispensation from the operation of the law, though they do not enforce it harshly against them. In certain congested areas it is not possible to allow a disabled driver to leave his car in the place most convenient to him, however desirable this may be.
LORD FRASER. OF LONSDALEMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether he is aware that generally throughout the country the police are extremely kind and helpful 1;0 disabled persons, and especially to crippled persons who cannot walk far from their vehicle; and that it will be helpful to the police to know that public opinion and, I hope, your Lordships' House support a tolerant and, within the law, helpful policy in this matter?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, I am aware of the fact which the noble Lord has mentioned and, for what it is worth, I myself certainly hope that will always continue to be the case.