Road Safety (Financial Penalty Deposit) (Appropriate Amount) Order 2009

The answer is the DVLA database. We are making progress. To develop the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, the serious offences issue is significant. Clearly, if the offence is extraditable—I believe that is where there is a penalty of more than one year’s imprisonment—the police can take those powers. If the offence is such that an individual is taken into custody, some powers are available. Nevertheless, it is an area where we shall have to continue to develop policy. We take the point. The important point is that many of the offences we are talking of do not allow the vehicle to move. The real impact on this is the powers under this set of instruments which allow the immobilisation of the vehicle. If it is overloaded or unroadworthy or the driver has worked excess hours prohibiting further movement, there may be some discretion exercised to move the vehicle to a safer place. That aside, it will be immobilised until the issue is remedied. That is pretty serious stuff for an operator, as has been said. That will hit not only the driver, but also the capability. I believe we have made some progress there. The fee prescribed for the removal of an immobilisation device is set at £80. That level has been set following consultation with the police through ACPO. I am sorry that it has taken so long to respond to the points raised by the noble Earl, Lord Attlee. I have spoken to officials on the point, which is complex. There has been a great deal of consultation and I have been convinced that it needed this amount of time. They felt that it was important to get right the technology that sits behind the systems and the agencies. They made a convincing case for the time and the consultation. Travellers clearly would come under these rules. One should remember that the provisions are mostly about vehicles being fit to be driven and about loads and so on. They are the sort of offences in which, when detected, the vehicle cannot be moved, so the vehicle cannot go anywhere to pick up multiple offences. Not only does the deposit have to be paid before the vehicle can be moved, but the offence must be remedied in some form or other. I have a wonderfully elaborate set of words here on the methods of payment. What it really boils down to is that you can use cash or credit cards. VOSA people will be looking for a chip and pin approach. Other bodies, as they extend, will develop systems. There is a clear intention to make this a practical piece of legislation.