HC Deb 09 April 2001 vol 366 cc463-4W
Mr. Goggins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review the penalties for failing to obtain a valid MoT certificate. [156055]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The maximum penalty for the offence of driving a motor vehicle without a valid Ministry of Transport (MoT) certificate under section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is a fine of up to £2,500 in the case of a vehicle adapted to cary more than eight passengers and £1,000 for any other motor vehicle. The maximum penalty for the related, but more serious offence, of forgery of an MoT certificate, under section 173 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, is two years imprisonment. We are conducting a review of Road Traffic Penalties and have now received responses to our consultation paper published last December. In relation to the fraud offence the consultation paper proposes that the existing anomaly whereby imprisonment is not available where the offence is tried in the magistrates court is removed so that a sentence of imprisonment of up to six months is available for summary disposal of these cases. We made no express proposals in respect of the driving

Police force net expenditure (England) and percentage change in cash and real terms, 1990–91 to 2000–01
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93
Percentage change Percentage change Percentage change
£000 cash terms real terms £000 cash terms real terms £000 cash terms real terms
Avon and Somerset 107,282 10.9 2.9 116,004 8.1 1.9 127,928 10.3 6.8
Bedfordshire 36,053 11.2 3.1 40,027 11.0 4.6 45.036 12.5 9.0
Cambridgeshire 43,173 11.2 3.1 48,001 11.2 4.8 51,126 6.5 3.1
Cheshire 63,620 7.6 (0.2) 68,496 7.7 1.4 74,058 8.1 4.7
City of London 38,288 7.5 (0.3) 41,919 9.5 3.1 45,151 7.7 4.3
Cleveland 52,889 11.3 3.2 58,690 11.0 4.5 62,269 6.1 2.7
Cumbria 41,312 13.4 5.2 46,548 12.7 6.2 50,736 9.0 5.6
Derbyshire 62,086 4.2 (3.3) 66,686 7.4 1.2 76,554 14.8 11.2
Devon and Cornwall 107,378 13.0 4.8 119,619 11.4 5.0 129,634 8.4 4.9
Dorset 50,150 15.0 6.7 54,239 8.2 1.9 57,639 6.3 2.9
Durham 45,673 10.2 2.2 49,517 8.4 2.1 53,853 8.8 5.3
Essex 106,902 15.7 7.3 119,118 11.4 5.0 129,559 8.8 5.3
Gloucestershire 41,526 13.3 5.1 46,370 11.7 5.2 49,361 6.5 3.1
Greater Manchester 236,520 9.6 1.6 256,562 8.5 17.2 281,761 9.8 6.4
Hampshire 114,172 12.5 4.4 127,841 12.0 5.5 142,133 11.2 7.7
Hertfordshire 59,681 13.7 5.4 63,633 6.6 0.5 70,029 10.1 6.6
Humberside 71,151 10.6 2.6 78,591 10.5 4.1 86,795 10.4 6.9
Kent 107,675 10.2 2.2 128,118 19.0 12.1 136,307 6.4 3.0
Lancashire 114,195 13.7 5.5 127,076 11.3 4.8 132,092 3.9 0.7
Leicestershire 63,597 9.9 2.0 70,562 11.0 4.5 75,262 6.7 3.3
Lincolnshire 43,025 13.4 5.2 48,704 13.2 6.6 53,039 8.9 5.5
Merseyside 165,167 10.1 2.1 182,680 10.6 4.2 193,410 5.9 2.5
Metropolitan police 1,273,265 18.2 9.6 1,420,575 11.6 5.1 1,513,654 6.6 3.2
Norfolk 49,106 13.4 5.2 56,134 14.3 7.7 60,658 8.1 4.6
Northamptonshire 41,997 10.6 2.5 47,081 12.1 5.6 52,575 11.7 8.1
Northumbria 124,873 11.1 3.0 139,999 12.1 5.6 145,882 4.2 0.9
North Yorkshire 48.995 10.5 2.5 53.161 8.5 2.2 60,123 13.1 9.5
Nottinghamshire 79,305 14.1 5.9 85,209 7.4 1.2 92,856 9.0 5.5
South Yorkshire 101,200 12.0 3.9 108,676 7.4 1.2 122,395 12.6 9.1
Staffordshire 76,903 14.8 6.5 84,322 9.6 3.3 90,497 7.3 3.9
Suffolk 44,755 12.1 4.0 49,246 10.0 3.7 52,052 5.7 2.4

without a valid MoT certificate offence but the review continues and we will consider any representations received.