§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 21 May,Official Report, column 134, relating to plastic photocard driving licences, who carried out the preliminary and subsequent 429W public consultations; how many members of the public were consulted on each occasion; and how many (a) supported and (b) opposed plastic photocard driving licences. [31135]
§ Mr. NorrisThe Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency conducted both consultation exercises.
In the preliminary exercise, 150 consultation documents were issued to organisation representing motorists and interested organisations. Forty-four written responses were received, of which 38 were in favour of proposals to include photographs on driving licences.
In the subsequent exercise, some 1,500 consultation document were issued. There were 49 written responses, of which 46 support photocard licences.
§ Sir Peter FryTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will now allow the grandfather rights of current public service vehicle and heavy goods vehicle licence holders to continue until retirement. [30798]
§ Mr. NorrisFollowing my right hon. Friend's announcement on 25 April,Official Report, column 248, that implementation of certain provisions of the second EC directive on driving licences is to be deferred until 1 January 1997, we are giving consideration to the precise arrangements to be introduced in respect of eyesight requirements for driving lorries and buses.