Mr. Ted Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable as to how many motor vehicles, which have been completely written off by the insurance companies and subsequently rebuilt, have been inspected by the police in County Durham; and what proportion this represented of the total number of cars that have been rebuilt.
§ Mr. PeytonI understand that the total number of vehicles on which a total loss payment has been made by insurance companies, or reported by the police as seriously damaged, and subsequently re-licensed, was 683 in County Durham in 1971. All of these were examined by the police. The purposes of these examinations is to detect stolen or "ringed" vehicles and not to check on roadworthiness.