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Motor Cycles (Highways Act)

I thank Mr. Speaker for granting me this short Adjournment debate. I welcome the Minister. This is my first opportunity to say a few words to her. I want to raise an important issue that affects my constituency. I refer to what was—until this year—the annual Saltburn motor cycle hill climb. I want to say a few words about the history of the event and then focus on the difficulties that exist. The event was a contest of speed and time for vintage and classic motor cycles and attracted up to 85 solo bikes and motor cycle combinations every year. The race was the inheritor of a 100-year proud motor racing tradition in the small seaside resort of Saltburn, which is located in the east Cleveland part of my constituency. One hundred years ago—almost exactly to the month—the first Saltburn motor race took place on the fine town beach. It was sponsored by a local garage owner, and attracted crowds of thousands from the nearby Teesside towns. Saltburn sands—along with the Pendine sands in south Wales—were reckoned by the great racing drivers of the day to be the best surface for displays of speed in the entire UK. This history of motor racing developed under the wing of the Yorkshire Automobile Club from 1906 onwards. In the inter-war years, some of the greatest names in British motor sport raced on Saltburn sands. The Guinness family and the Younger family—both brewing dynasties—had young sons who loved fast cars and the thrill of speed. They were joined at Saltburn by the famous competition drivers of the day, such as Malcolm Campbell and Parry Thomas. It was at this time that the first motor cycle races took place. Indeed, it is said that T. E. Lawrence—otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia—who was a keen motor cyclist, once took part in a local event. Following the end of the second world war, and the development of purpose-built racing circuits like Silverstone and Brands Hatch, racing on the sands ceased, but motor cycle hill scrambles from Saltburn up into to the hills continued. These events were sponsored throughout the ‘50s by the then Saltburn urban district council and with the backing of local landowners such as Lord Zetland and his family. The hill climb remained a proud tradition and was recreated in 1993. In that year, the Middlesbrough and District motor club approached the local authorities to see whether it could relaunch an annual vintage and classic motor cycle hill climb. It was planned to hold it at the same time as the town's Victorian week, a celebration of the resort's Victorian heritage as a planned seaside town. The type of bikes entered sound like a roll call of the lost British motor cycle industry. Their names ran from the ABC motor cycle to the Zenith motor cycle, along with more familiar names such as AJS, Sunbeam, Rudge, Quadrant, BSA, the mighty Norton Dominator and the Brough Superior—the biggest and possibly the noisiest motor cycles built in the UK. Well-known names in motor cycling such as Geoff Duke also took part in some of the events. The hill climb took place along the length of Saltburn bank and Saltburn lane. That is a steep route climbing at an almost one-in-seven gradient from Saltburn's beach up to the Victorian gardens of Rushpool hotel, a former home of the Bell family who were major ironmasters on Teesside. The road was chosen because of the hill and because it is a very minor public highway. It is an unclassified country lane, and the local council tells me that the latest traffic counts show fewer than 1,500 movements on the road in any one 24-hour period. Consequently, the required road closure orders were easy to implement. The local police, the local authorities and the local community gave solid backing to the new hill race series as it was seen as important to the town's tourist economy. Over the years, the race grew in popularity, and it is estimated that there were between 4,000 and 5,000 spectators at both the start and finish of the hill climb. That meant that the town virtually doubled in size on hill climb days, and those were people spending cash in a town that badly needed trade and tourist investment. The hill climb became the Middlesbrough and District motor club's one big annual event and quickly became fixed in the Teesside sporting and tourist calendar until, I am afraid, earlier this year. That was when it was found out that due to the existence of a little known piece of legislation—much of it enacted via statutory instruments—the race was illegal and, in fact, had been illegal from the first day that it was run. That was as much of a shock to the Cleveland police and the Redcar and Cleveland borough council as to the hill climb organisers. Sincere apologies, red faces and deep unhappiness were the order of the day from both the police and the council. The event is licensed under the rigorous safety requirements imposed by the Auto-Cycle Union and fully supported by Saltburn's parish council. The event is also a way of advertising both the motor cycle training offered by the council and the work of police's motor cycle section. That is when the motor club approached me. Mr. Crust, the secretary of the Middlesbrough and District motor club, wrote to me and has been in regular touch with my office. He also came to see me in my surgery in Guisborough and expressed deep concern and disappointment about what had happened. He felt that it was a great injustice to the Middlesbrough and District motor club and the fraternity who have enjoyed the event. He felt that what was basically just a harmless day out for classic bikers and the motor cycling fraternity was seen, in law at least, as potentially harmful to the life and limb of everyone in the area. The root of the legislative jungle lies in the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations 1969. That was amended by section 16A of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, which, in turn, was further amended by section 12(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988. That means that, in effect, no trials of speed or timing on a public highway would be allowed in England and Wales, even if the highway was especially closed by the highways authority. That was further codified and clarified by an obscure statutory instrument, No. 2233 of 1993, which confirmed the position and laid down a small number of exempted events organised by national bodies such as the RAC Motor Sports Association. Frankly, a big legislative hammer is being used to crack open a small nut. Although I will grant that the hill climb is a competition of speed and timing, it is not a Formula 1 grand prix. Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are not fighting Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya for a place on a winning podium in Saltburn. Instead, we are talking about a rather sedate race of very old bikes, lovingly restored and maintained by bike enthusiasts from across the north of England. In the history of the event there has never been any accident or any injury, and no pedestrian has ever been put in danger. The council and the police managed the event in accordance with best practice in terms of crowd control and road closure. The Middlesbrough and District motor club ran it by the book—the book being a guide from the Auto-Cycle Union covering the arrangements for such events. As it is, the 2005 race, which would have, in a manner of speaking, been the great centenary event for Saltburn, will now not happen. The organisers examined whether there were ways to avoid the impact of the legislation. There seemed only two ways. Either the race would have had to become some kind of tame formal procession or it would have had to be promoted as a separate event through a private Bill sponsored by the club and the local authority. The first alternative was impossible and unwelcome to the club, which, after all wants to trial its bikes against each other. The second was fantastically expensive, full of legal complexity and beyond the ability of a small motor cycle club to process. I am asking for positive action from the Minister to help the club, and possibly to help other clubs faced with a similar problem. It is not beyond the wit of Government and our expert legal draftsmen in the Department for Transport to re-examine the regulations, to see whether they can be fine-tuned so that small events of this kind can carry on, while very fast and dangerous road races are still prevented from taking place. I sincerely hope that the Minister will also talk to the Minister for Sport and Tourism, who I feel will have the same views as me on this matter. The Middlesbrough and District motor club hopes that there might be a ministerial and civil service review of the regulations. Such a review could mean that the event could start again next year. If the Minister were willing to meet them, I would be happy to bring members of that club along so that she could hear what they have to say. We might find a way to deal with the problem and find a direction that would help the club as well as meet the legal obligations. I hope that we can have some sort of joined-up government, which is important, and that the plight of the Middlesbrough and District motor club and those who participate in it can be tackled. If the Minister could give a positive reply, I am sure that she would be welcome in Middlesbrough and in Saltburn, which is a beautiful part of my constituency. She could meet the people in the Middlesbrough and District motor club, and hopefully, they would invite her to take part as a pillion or sidecar passenger in the 2006 hill climb.