HC Deb 19 March 1996 vol 274 c104W
Sir Harold Walker

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that drivers of vehicles entering the United Kingdom comply with United Kingdom eyesight regulations for driving. [21658]

Mr. Norris

Visitors to the United Kingdom are entitled by international convention to drive for up to one year on licences issued by their national authorities. For drivers from within the EU, minimum standards of medical fitness for driving, including eyesight requirements, are set in the first and second directives on driving licences, and implemented in national legislation. If it were to become clear that the eyesight standards of any visiting drivers were unacceptable in terms of road safety, we would take the matter up, in the first instance, with the relevant national authority.