Road Safety Bill [HL]

I have some sympathy with the noble Earl because, particularly in the scaffolding business, the things carried on such lorries are extremely dangerous. The scaffold poles and the boards can and do fall off the vehicles and cause grievous damage to other, properly maintained vehicles. There is a case for making sure that people who use quite large lorries to convey loads that are not well secured conform to some stronger form of governance. The noble Earl has hit a nail on the head. Such people require rather stronger regulation than the Government appear to think. The advent of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act has meant that far more buildings, including those that require painting, decorating and alterations, require scaffolding than ever used to. Without casting aspersions on the people in the scaffolding trade, I do not think that many of them would qualify for the higher echelons of employment. This is an area to which the Minister might give rather more serious consideration. When such materials are contained in contained vehicles such as vans, I have some sympathy with the Minister’s point, but, particularly in the case of scaffolding lorries, the goods conveyed are not contained. They are loose on the lorry, they are often secured only by a piece of rope, and the consequences of scaffolding falling off are devastating.