Motoring

I understand that the guidelines of the Association of Chief Police Officers are 10 per cent. plus one. It would not be useful to publish the levels at which fines are tripped. On some average speed cameras, the speed might be set slightly higher than that, but it would not be useful in respect of road safety to publish the level at which fines would be levied. Clamping on private land has become an epidemic and many companies are now engaged in this activity, as my hon. Friend said. Something needs to be done. I am pleased that the Government are engaged in a consultation on that. My party has long argued that we need better policing of the private clamping industry. Not only do we wish companies engaging in this activity to meet the same sort of criteria that other parking organisations have to adhere to, through registration with bodies such as the British Parking Association, but we think that people who feel that they have been clamped unfairly should have access to a parking adjudication service. I am genuinely interested to hear the Minister's view of people who feel that they have been unfairly ticketed for parking and wish to appeal. I have not reached an opinion on that. Under the current system in Scarborough, for example, if I pay a parking fine within 14 days, I can pay the lower fee of £35, but if I leave it longer than 14 days, the fee increases to £70. So there is a discount if I pay early. If a person appeals and loses, they pay the higher fine, so it is almost a case of double or quits. Has the Minister or his Department analysed the effect on the numbers of appeals coming forward and revenue for local authorities if the lower fine were held in abeyance pending an appeal? Perhaps fines could be lodged with the parking adjudication service pending the result of that appeal. Any motoring policies that a future Government introduced should be rural-proofed. I represent a large rural constituency in which many people rely on their cars to get about. There is no public transport in many areas and, given the recent weather and the topography of the North Yorkshire moors, many people require 4x4 vehicles, including Land Rovers and the like. I hope that any future measures on motoring take into account the needs of the rural population. Finally, I cannot get my head around the fact that the Liberal Democrats are proposing a 90 per cent. cut in the roads budget on top of the 50 per cent. cut over the past 10 years that the Government have already introduced—compared with the previous 10 years of Conservative Administration. I wonder how that will work and the effect that it will have on the economy in terms of contractors, for example. Are we talking about existing contracts that have been signed off or plans in the pipeline, or will this happen in five or six years when all the existing contracts have been rolled out? Will it affect the managed motorway scheme on hard shoulder running? The Liberal Democrats have not done their sums. It would be irresponsible to impose such cuts. The effects on congestion and our economy are too awful to consider. I hope that they will look again at that policy, but perhaps we need not worry too much, because I suspect that if there were a hung Parliament that would be one of the policies that they quickly discarded during negotiations with Mr. Brown.