§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Transport whether, in regard to his reconsideration of the operation of the road fund licence, he will consider operating an annual certificate of registration of vehicles for the supply of petrol and make it illegal for any petrol to be supplied to a vehicle without the exhibition of such a certificate on the vehicle, in accordance with the proposals contained in the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Newham, North-West.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeVehicles are already required to display a current excise licence and this requirement would continue if a system of tax on possession were introduced. However, an enforcement system which relied upon the checking of vehicle licences by petrol retailers would be very difficult to supervise, particularly at self-service stations and would be open to other objections. Nor would it prevent petrol being transferred from one vehicle to another after purchase.
I am writing to the hon. Member about the proposals which he put to me regarding unlicensed vehicles in his letter of 17 July.