§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to introduce an MOT compliance standard on vehicle emissions based on manufacturers' own conformity of production standards.
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§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleAn amendment to the EC roadworthiness directive made last year means that emissions standards may be based either on vehicle manufactures' stated maximum limits or on fixed common limits. This directive will take effect on 1 January next year for vehicles with conventional petrol engines, 1 January 1996 for vehicles with diesel engines and 1 January 1997 for petrol-engined vehicles with catalytic converters. I will consider the hon. Member"s suggestion and the Department will consult interested parties with draft regulations implementing the directive.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to bring forward proposals for additional powers to his Department's vehicle inspectorate to enable them(a) to make a visual assessment of smoking vehicles in use on roads and (b) to impose a legal requirement on vehicle owners of a detected smoking vehicle to have the vehicle checked at an MOT testing station following detection.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThe vehicle inspectorate"s examiners already have the power to assess smoke from a vehicle stopped at a roadside check and to prohibit the use of that vehicle if the smoke is excessive. Such a prohibition can be cleared only when an examiner is satisfied that the emission of smoke has been reduced to an acceptable level and this may require that the vehicle is first inspected at a testing station.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many instances of vehicles emitting excess smoke were reported to each of his Department's area offices during each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThis information is available for the period from 1 April 1991:
Traffic area 1991–92 11992–93 South Eastern and Metropolitan 636 468 North Western 154 178 Scottish 36 41 North Eastern 86 114 West Midland and South Wales 114 156 Eastern 159 172 Western 298 949 TOTAL 1,483 2,078 1 April to December.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action has been taken to date(a) to publicise his Department's area offices to whom complaints on vehicles emitting excessive smoke should be made, including contact names and telephone numbers and (b) to publicise the courses of action open to his Department to deal with such complaints.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThe Department of the Environment's leaflet "Wake up to what you can do for the environment", issued in 1990, gave advice on how members of the public could help to tackle environmental nuisance, including reporting excessively smoking vehicles to traffic area offices. We hope that a separate leaflet dealing specifically with smoky vehicles will be issued shortly. This will include the addresses and telephone numbers of the relevant offices and it will also outline what follow-up action is taken in response to complaints.