§ Miss Burtonasked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that cars used by Government Departments are not registered and have no registered number but that when they are sold by auction a form is issued after the disposal to enable the cars to be registered; that, on being registered, no reference is recorded in the registration book that these cars have been previously in use and thus a new registration book is issued and the date of registration entered at the time of payment of the registration fee or licence duty; and what action he proposes to take as such a system means that in many cases a car is sold as of that date whereas it may have been in use for years before.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe only Government Department vehicles which are not registered in the normal way are those belonging to the Service Departments. When these are sold to the public, the date of registration entered in the registration book is, as the hon. Member suggests, the date when the vehicle is first given a civilian registration mark. But registration and licensing authorities have for some time been endorsing the book with the word "Ex-Government" in order to show that the vehicle has been 77W used before. I am now arranging for this endorsement to be expanded to make the position even clearer.