§ Colonel Ponsonbyasked the Minister of Supply and of Aircraft Production whether arrangements are now made for the disposal to private purchasers of service and Government motor cars and lorries no longer required; and if full information will be issued in all parts of the country.
§ Mr. WilmotAs explained in my answer to the hon. Member for Newark (Mr. S. Shephard) on 15th October last, the balance of surplus Service motor vehicles, after the needs of Government Departments, the paying Allies and U.N.R.R.A. have been met, is handed over to the manufacturers for re-distribution through trade channels. These vehicles are reconditioned either by the manufacturers or by their agents and are sold only to purchasers who hold permits to acquire obtained from the Ministry of War Transport, except in the case of motor cycles, which do not require permits.
As my right hon. Friend the Minister of War Transport stated in reply to the hon. and gallant Member for Bewdley (Major Conant) on 22nd October, these permits are, in the case of goods vehicles, issued by the Regional Transport Commissioners, up to the numbers available, to applicants who satisfy them that they need a vehicle and that it is in the national interest that one should be allocated to them. Permits for reconditioned cars, issued from the Ministry of War Transport headquarters in London, are at present available only to nurses, midwives and badly disabled ex-Servicemen, who need a car to follow an occupation.