Vehicle Emissions (Hansard, 17 October 1994)

§ Ms Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the extent of non-compliance with vehicle construction and use regulations in respect of motor vehicle emissions.
94W

§ Mr. Norris
An assessment to the year ending 31 March 1994 of the vehicles failing to comply with the in-use emissions requirements of the construction and use regulations is given in the table. For light duty vehicles, the assessment is based on returns from MOT test stations–2 per cent. sample—and for public service and heavy goods vehicles, from annual test statistics.

Vehicle Number tested Number failing emissions test

Cars, other passenger vehicles up to 12 seats and light goods vehicle up to 3T 21,244,344 1,636,739(7.7 per cent.)

Private passenger vehicles over 12 seats 23,510 531 (2.26 per cent.)

Light goods vehicles over 3T and up to 3.5T 214,255 13,989 (6.53 per cent.)

Public Service Vehicles 86,254 2,328 (2.7 per cent.) 13,827

Heavy Goods Vehicles 576,121 13,827 (2.4 per cent.)

§ Ms Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many complaints about excessively smokey vehicles have been referred to the vehicle inspectorate in the last five years.

§ Mr. Norris
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Vehicle Inspectorate under its chief executive, Ron Oliver. He has written to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Ms Joan Walley, dated 20 July 1994:
SMOKEY VEHICLES You recently asked a parliamentary question about the number of complaints the Department of Transport had received concerning smoky vehicles. Because the Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) has operational responsibility for this matter I have been asked to reply. VI coordinate the Smokey Vehicle Hotline. This service allows members of the public, and other interested bodies, to report vehicles seen producing excessive smoke. The scheme was set up in 1991 and since then 8,259 complaints have been received. A breakdown of the total is given below:

Year Number

1991–92 1,484

1992–93 2,481

1993–94 2,888

1994–95¹ 1,407

Total 8,249

¹To date

I hope this answers your question but if you have any further queries about this, or other operational matters relating to VI, please write to me.

§ Ms Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in how many cases operator licences have been (i) raised or (ii) withdrawn because of complaints about excessive smoke in the last five years.

§ Mr. Norris
Such information is not available.

§ Ms Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has for legislation to require local authorities to carry out spot checks of polluting vehicles; and if he will make a statement.
95W

§ Dr. Mawhinney
We have no such plans. We are concentrating our efforts on improving current enforcement techniques through better targeting and publicity, and through increased public awareness. I made an announcement about this on 11 October and a copy has been placed in the Library.

Vehicle	Number tested	Number failing emissions test
Cars, other passenger vehicles up to 12 seats and light goods vehicle up to 3T	21,244,344	1,636,739(7.7 per cent.)
Private passenger vehicles over 12 seats	23,510	531 (2.26 per cent.)
Light goods vehicles over 3T and up to 3.5T	214,255	13,989 (6.53 per cent.)
Public Service Vehicles	86,254	2,328 (2.7 per cent.) 13,827
Heavy Goods Vehicles	576,121	13,827 (2.4 per cent.)

Year	Number
1991–92	1,484
1992–93	2,481
1993–94	2,888
1994–95¹	1,407
Total	8,249
¹To date