Road Safety Bill [HL]

Members of the Committee should give particular attention to the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. At present, when the police detain a vehicle, it has to be removed to a place of safe storage. It cannot just be parked out in the open. It has to be taken, often under cover, to a place where it costs money. It is important that costs are recovered from the owner of the vehicle. On detaining a vehicle that has brought peaches from Spain or meat from Ireland, we are talking about a vehicle that probably contains goods worth £10,000 or £20,000, apart from the cost of the vehicle. It is important that the Minister makes plain that this will not become a charge on council tax payers via the police, or the taxpayer. If the person has committed an offence and is arraigned by the police and charged, he should also be responsible for whatever storage and demurrage charges relate to that vehicle. The police are not able just to park the vehicle in a lorry park; they are obliged to park it somewhere secure, which could involve lots of money. In the Minister’s reply, I hope that we get an answer which relieves the police and through them the taxpayer or council tax payer of the costs.