§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has had discussions concerning clocking and the possibility of requiring notification of a car's mileage to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre when relicensing, acquiring, or disposing of a car.
§ Mr. ForthI have seen the recommendations to which the hon. Member refers, which were made by the working group led by the Director General of Fair Trading. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Roads and Traffic told the House on 16 March, the Government do not believe that the expensive system proposed for collecting and storing data in order to deter clocking would be sufficiently reliable to warrant the cost and bureaucracy involved. There are already mileage verification services available from private sector companies, and we believe that motor manufacturers could do much to solve the problem by developing tamper-resistant odometers.