§ 11.33 a.m.
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, I beg to move that the House do now resolve itself into Committee on this Bill.
§ Moved, that the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Lord Harris of Greenwich.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The Earl of Listowel in the Chair.]
§ Clause 1 [Arrest without warrant of suspected offenders]:
§
Lord HARRIS of GREENWICH moved Amendment No. 1:
Page 1, line 9, after (" vehicles ") insert (" or of byelaws made under section 46 of the Tramways Act 1870 with respect to the conduct of persons in tramcars").
§ The noble Lord said: I beg to move this Amendment in my name. If I may, I think it will probably be sensible for me to deal also with the second Amendment in my name, which relates to it. The purpose of these Amendments is to extend the provisions of the Bill to cover tramcars. Their effect is to give a power of arrest in respect of breaches of the bye-laws governing misconduct on trams, from such date as the Secretary of State appoints. As noble Lords may know, trams are still running in Blackpool, which is the only town in England and Wales where they are still in operation. There are 85 trams in service there and. 1412 I am glad to say, no plans at present to withdraw them. However, a tram is not a public service vehicle for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act 1960, but the conduct of passengers is governed by regulations and byelaws made under Section 46 of the Tramways Act 1870. Both the Chief Constable of Lancashire and Blackpool Borough Council consider that there is as much need of a power of arrest in respect of misconduct on trams as on buses.
§ The second of these two Amendments provides that the words relating to tramcars, which the first Amendment will insert in the Bill, shall not come into operation until such date as the Secretary of State appoints. This is to enable Blackpool Borough Council to draw up new byelaws and regulations in a satisfactory legal form to serve as the basis for the power of arrest provided by the Bill. The borough council have agreed to revise their byelaws and regulations for this purpose; and as soon as this has been done, and the r[...]vised byelaws have been approved by the Secretary of State for the Environment, the necessary order to bring into force the words in the Bill relating to tramways will be made.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 2 [Short title, repeal and extent]:
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHI beg to move Amendment No. 2.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 3, at end insert—
(" ( ) In the preceding section the words from "or of byelaws" to "tramcars" shall come into force on such date as the Secretary of State may appoint by order made by statutory instrument.")—(Lord Harris of Greenwich.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
§ House resumed: Bill reported, with the Amendments: Report received.
§ Then Standing Order No. 44 having been suspended (pursuant to Resolution):
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(Lord Harris of Greenwich.)
1413§ Viscount SIMONMy Lords, the noble Earl the Chairman of Committees took the matter with his usual skill and speed, but ought not the Title of the Bill to be altered now that we have included in it tramcars as well as public service vehicles?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, I understand that that is not necessary.
§ On Question, Bill read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.