§ Mr. Paul ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what increase in road traffic there has been since the Hatfield train derailment. [141622]
§ Mr. HillAccording to the Association of Train Operating Companies, there is a 13 per cent. drop in passenger revenue in the most recent statistics for December. The effect has not been uniform with some lines much more badly affected than others. If all of the people who have switched from rail had instead travelled by car this would have increased road travel overall by about 1 per cent., with some routes affected more than others. In practice, the effect will have been less as some journeys will have been abandoned and some passengers will have used alternative models of public transport. Daily monitoring of traffic levels by my Department has shown no significant increase in traffic in recent weeks, but relatively small percentage changes in road travel can easily be masked by other influences including, over recent weeks, bad weather depressing traffic levels.