§ Sir B. Jannerasked the Minister of Transport how many lorries involved in accidents have been found defective during the last 12 months soon after they have been given his Department's certificate of roadworthiness; and what action he proposes to take to remedy the position.
Mr. Bob BrownThe information necessary to provide a complete answer is not readily available. It has not been possible to trace any incidents where the 207W circumstances referred to in the question have been reported to the Ministry.
From statistics obtained from police accident reports submitted to the Ministry since the beginning of this year a total of 110 heavy goods vehicles (over 30 cwt. unladen weight) have been involved in personal injury accidents in which a mechanical defect was considered by the police to have been a contributory factor. Without a considerable amount of detailed investigation it is not possible to say which, if any, of these vehicles had a test certificate at the time of the accident. If a test certificate had been recently issued to such a vehicle this would most certainly have been indicated in the police reports.