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Road Safety Bill [HL]

My Lords, I must say that I found the Minister’s answers to be among the most unsatisfactory that we have received today. The Government are embarking on a process of providing more facilities—bearing in mind, of course, that there is now a huge amount more traffic—but they are almost blundering into it without thinking about what people will need when they arrive. The noble Earl, Lord Attlee, makes a very good point about facilities for HGV drivers. I declare my interest as an Oxfordshire county councillor. I assure the Minister that many of the lay-bys that he mentioned are insanitary, awful places. We have had to close some because they were so bad. But that does not get round the problem of where else lorry drivers go. I shall read what the Minister said, but I let him know that I found his answer very poor and we shall need to return to the subject when the Bill returns for Third Reading, because that answer did not go far and did not specifically address the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, about who will pay, because payment there will certainly be if the facilities are to be anything like they need to be. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 47 not moved.]