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Road Safety Bill [Lords]

I will certainly look at representations, but we are trying to ensure that anyone who drives people and the quality of the vehicle used meet certain basic standards. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make representations, of course he can, but the objective of the provision is to try to ensure that we can balance individuals’ needs with the requirements of the general public, so that they can be satisfied about standards generally. On the Network Rail point, we will seek to remove the six new clauses introduced in another place, because they would not achieve what their movers wanted them to achieve, but we will introduce an alternative proposal that, I hope, will deal with that problem. The right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Knight) asked in particular about the penalties for people who ignore the lights and cross the railway. The fine for doing that was increased to £5,000 in another place. A lower fine was proposed originally. I am concerned that there have been several incidents in the past year where people have clearly decided to take a gamble and tried to get through the barriers, thus putting at risk not just their own lives, but those of the people on the oncoming train. Of course, we will not be able to deal with suicide cases that way—the fine would not make much difference—but I will reflect on such fines, endorsements or disqualifications to determine how we deal with such things. Several incidents in the past year or so, particularly on the east coast line and the lines off it, have caused me concern, and I want to think about how we should deal with them in the light of what has been said in the other place.