§ Mr. GorstTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give an estimate of the number of vehicles currently in use on the road without road fund licences; and what was the number of prosecutions for 1986 and 1987 for not being in possession of a currently valid road fund licence.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe most recent estimate of vehicle excise duty (VED) evasion in Great Britain based 453W on a national survey in June 1984, indicated that some 1.1 million unlicensed vehicles are in use on the road. In 1986, 342,513 evaders were prosecuted or agreed to pay a penalty in out-of-court settlements; and enforcement action induced a further 271,492 to relicense. The comparable figures for 1987 were 339,458 and 253,708, respectively.