Driving Disqualifications (Hansard, 16 June 2004)

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, the power for the courts to disqualify from driving anyone convicted of an offence is contained in Section 146(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. The power is available in relation to any offence, but may be seen as an additional deterrent in the context of anti-social behaviour environmental crime and other offences when a particular case has a link to the use of vehicles, such as kerb crawling.

§ Viscount Falkland
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that Answer. However, I may he wrong, but does she not agree with me that to the man or woman in the street—or even to a child—the handing out of driving bans for offences that are not connected with driving seems to lack one of the main elements of natural justice?
Is the Minister aware that since the guidelines to magistrates have changed, there have been one or two highly publicised incidents? One involved a senior citizen who saw fit to put up a placard warning of a speed trap. He was arrested and has received a month's disqualification and a fine of—curiously£364. There was also a motorcyclist, in another well publicised piece in the press, who similarly gave warning to others of a speed trap. Could the Minister allay the fears of the House and the general public by confirming that this is not the thin end of the wedge and that young people will not have to look forward to a future when they will receive driving bans for not separating their rubbish or for smoking in public places?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
No, my Lords. I make it clear that the exercise of judicial discretion remains where it has always been—with the judiciary, both lay and professional. There have been other uses to which those provisions have been put. For instance, in April in Brixton someone convicted of soliciting for prostitution was banned from driving. Cars are used in those sorts of offences. In Teeside a week ago, a kerb crawler was similarly sentenced.
It is the intention for that kind of opportunity to be given to sentencers so that they can give people sentences that fit the crime. We know that to some 755 young men, their car is more dear to them than their wife, their child and almost anything else, so that may act as a deterrent.

§ Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, if it is the Government's intention that people such as Mr Harding, the pensioner who has already been mentioned, should be prosecuted for warning others that there is a speed trap, what is their view of the criminality or otherwise of the West Midlands police, who have been working with local councils across their area to produce a CD-ROM for use by the public, specifically so that the police can tell the public the exact location of each and every speed trap in their area?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, I apologise if I have not made it plain, but the imposition of the sentence is a matter entirely for the magistrate or the judge. It would be quite improper of me to comment on why the court came to the decision to impose the sentence that it did. It is perfectly proper, and part of government policy, that people should know where the cameras are, should comply with the law and should not break the speed limit. I applaud what is being done and hope that everyone will comply.

§ Lord Lawson of Blaby
My Lords, the Minister has not really answered the point. How can it be right that it is sensible for the police to warn about speed traps to deter drivers from driving too fast, yet it is apparently an offence—because no court can pass sentence unless there is an offence in the first place—for a private individual to warn of a speed trap?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, as I have said—and I say this for the third time—I do not dictate how a magistrate or judge chooses to sentence.

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, what about the police?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, I hear what the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, says from a sedentary position. The police may charge, but it is for the judge or magistrate to dispose. The sentence is available to the court if the court deems it appropriate for that particular offender.

§ Lord Campbell-Savours
My Lords, is it not true that a very large body of public opinion is highly supportive of this innovative approach to penalty, which is regarded as far more effective than historic forms of fining people, when the fines are often not even paid?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, that is right. On a number of occasions the removal of the licence—rather than giving penalty points—is seen as a salutary lesson. It helps to make people check their behaviour and not reoffend, and that is helpful to the community. Local communities very much welcome that.