§ Mr. Staintonasked the Minister of Transport what steps he is taking to reduce the total of 20,000 heavy goods vehicles, particularly as regards the 4,000 vehicles which are statistically dangerous, 511W which are operating under exemption certificates due to delays at testing centres; and when he expects these figures to be appreciably reduced.
§ Mr. Fowler20,000 exemptions at any one time is far too many. The cause goes back to industrial action and recruitment problems in 1979. The number was much higher in November last year, when about 29,000 were outstanding. By March this year the number had been reduced to 17,000 but increased calls on our testing capacity, which always arise in the spring and which have produced 2,000 more test applications a week than last autumn, have temporarily reversed the downward trend. We expect a steady improvement in the position from June onwards.