§ Mr. Neubertasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the figures of vehicle excise licence offences in 1974, 1975, 1976 and in 1977 to date; and what action he is taking to secure the more effective enforcement of the law in this respect.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn the years 1974 and 1975 there were, respectively, 171, 471 and 189, 201 findings of guilt in England and Wales for vehicle excise licence offences. In the same years 227, 605 and 262, 891 fixed-penalty notices were issued for non-display of a valid vehicle excise licence. It is not known in how many cases the issue and non-payment of a fixed penalty notice was followed by a successful prosecution in the courts. Information for later years is not available.
Enforcement of the vehicle excise licensing law is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. I understand that he has recently put in hand a survey designed to establish the true level of evasion and will consider what further action is possible when the result of the survey is known later this year.