§ 53. Sir G. Foxasked the Minister of Food when must his inspectors be accompanied by civil police; what are their instructions when consent to search is refused by motorists; and what action was taken in the one case in which the motorist refused his consent.
§ Mr. StracheyThe only occasion when an inspector must be accompanied by a police officer is when a search warrant under Defence Regulation 88A has been granted to the police officer and himself. If my inspector has no search warrant the motorist can, of course, refuse to allow his car to be searched, as the motorist did in the case to which the hon. Member refers. But such a refusal inevitably suggests that the motorist, however innocent he may really be, has something to conceal.