§ 2.35 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARDMy Lords, I beg leave 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 they are satisfied that the interests of British travellers are adequately protected by existing agreements with other Governments, especially with regard to accusations of theft.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)My Lords, British travellers abroad are naturally subject to the laws of the countries in which they are travelling. The existing agreements to which the noble Viscount refers are presumably the various bilateral Consular Conventions which have been concluded by Her Majesty's Government since 1949. For example, the Anglo-Norwegian Consular Convention provides that consular officers shall be informed immediately of the detention of British subjects in their districts, and shall be allowed access to them without delay. Similar Conventions with seven other countries, the United States of America, France, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany, are in force, but in none of them is there any especial provision made with regard to accusations of theft.
§ VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARDMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his Answer, but might I draw his attention to the fact that from time to time we see reports in the British Press that English travellers have been 934 had up for stealing cars, for example? The other day in The Times I saw a report that two British hikers had been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for stealing a car, which they denied, and they said they had only spent a night in the car to shelter from the rain. Might I, however, ask the noble Earl whether it would be possible, considering the fact that our law is of course different from that on the Continent, for British passports to contain a slip pointing out to travellers that when abroad they do not have the protection of our own law in cases of theft; because I understand that under our law you have to prove——
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I thought my noble friend very probably had certain specific cases in mind. I should be grateful if he would send them to me, and I will see whether anything can be done about them. Meanwhile, I hope that British travellers abroad, bearing in mind the differences in law, will be careful neither to steal nor to borrow any cars they may see standing about.