§ Colonel DAYasked the Minister of Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the remarks of the Marylebone magistrate when he had before him Thomas Sidney Claydon, who was charged with being drunk and with the dangerous driving of a motor car, when the magistrate criticised the existing law whereby a driving licence is automatically suspended for 12 months in all cases where such charges are brought against defendants; and will he consider the introduction of legislation to amend the present law so as to give magistrates and Judges discretion in cases of this nature?
§ Colonel ASHLEYMy attention had not been drawn to the prosecution to which the hon. Member refers, but Parliament will have an opportunity of considering afresh the penalties which should attach to the offence of drunkenness while in charge of a motor vehicle when the Road Traffic Bill, of which a draft was recently circulated, is introduced.