§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what response he has received from the European Commissioner for Transport regarding European Economic Community proposals to prevent the deaf and hard of hearing from driving minibuses, light goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyI have been asked to reply.
The Commission proposals are unlikely to lead to any change in the existing domestic arrangements for licensing the drivers of heavy goods vehicles, which exclude the deaf.
In our negotiations with the Commission we are seeking to preserve our existing licensing arrangements as far as possible. These allow the deaf to drive minibuses and light goods vehicles. There have been no detailed negotiations about the draft directive as a whole so far.