§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Transport in how many cases an applicant for a driving test in (a) a private car and (b) a motor cycle had to cancel it through illness less than three days before the test in 1977, thus laying himself open to forfeit the fee; 23W and in how many such cases the applicant was permitted ex gratia to be refunded the fee, or else to have it credited to his next application for a test.
§ Mr. HoramI regret that the information required by the first part of the Question is not available. Extra-statutory refunds on grounds of particular hardship were made in 122 cases.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether, in the light of experience of the operation of the Road Traffic Act 1962, he will seek to amend the provisions which require three days' advance notice of cancellation of a driving test, even when illness is involved, in order to avoid forfeiture of the fee; and whether he will consider more flexible arrangements for illness, while retaining forfeiture where no reasonable explanation is available for the cancellation.
§ Mr. HoramNo. My right hon. Friend is satisfied that more flexible arrangements could not be introduced without prejudicing the objective of avoiding waste of resources. We will continue to be as sympathetic as possible where the strict application of the law would be particularly harsh.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Transport in how many cases in 1977 an applicant for a driving test in (a) a private car and (b) a motor cycle gave the requisite three days' notice of cancellation in advance, and was thus
CASUALTIES AND CASUALTY RATES: GREAT BRITAIN: 1973–77 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977* Motor cyclists† Killed (number) … … … … 750 796 838 990 1,182 Rate per 1,000 vehicles registered … 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.8 … Injured (number) … … … … 44,518 46,038 55,257 66,636 70,508 Rate per 1,000 vehicles registered … 44.3 44.2 47.6 54.6 … Car Users Killed (number) … … … … 3,048 2,704 2,444 2,520 2,443 Rate per 1,000 vehicles registered‡ … 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 … Injured (number) … … … … 166,752 147,424 142,709 146,333 149,150 Rate per 1,000 vehicles registered§ … 12.4 10.8 10.4 10.4 … * Provisional data. † Includes motor cycles, mopeds and motor scooters, riders and passengers. ‡ Figure based on total of all registered private cars and private vans. § Not yet available.
§ Mr. Buchanan-Smithasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many persons have been killed or injured, other than the driver or passenger of the motor
24Wrefunded the fee; and in approximately what percentage of the cases the applicant, when cancelling indicated or implied that illness was the reason.