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Rail Freight (EUC Report)

My Lords, the Government take the view that enforcement and better knowledge of foreign lorries are the priorities for the immediate term. The costs of an alternative system in the short term are seen to be very high. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, also asked whether the regulations are being properly enforced. We have made an additional £24 million available to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency over a three-year period from 2008 to enable it to carry out more enforcement checks on HGVs on international journeys. A high proportion of these vehicles are foreign-registered. In April 2009, we introduced a graduated penalty and fixed deposit scheme. This empowers both the police and VOSA to demand on-the-spot payment of a financial deposit from non-resident drivers, including heavy goods vehicle drivers, who commit road traffic offences. Offenders are given the option to go to court and to have their deposit returned to them if they are subsequently cleared of the offence. In practice, almost no foreign drivers elect to go to court, and well over £700,000 has been collected in deposits since April. Powers to immobilise vehicles were introduced at the same time. The police and VOSA can now fix immobilisation devices to heavy goods vehicles that prevent them from being moved until the safety defect or overloading has been corrected or a driver has taken a sufficient rest period under drivers hours’ rules. Immobilisation devices are also fixed if a driver cannot immediately pay the required fixed penalty deposit and removed only when the money is forthcoming. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, referred to the report of the Transport Select Committee in another place on VOSA. The report is now being finalised and will be with the House of Commons shortly. It would be discourteous of me, speaking from this Dispatch Box, to anticipate a report which is going to the other place. He also asked about the risk of allowing 60 tonne lorries on our roads. I would point him to a statement made by the Secretary of State on 3 June 2008, which informed the House of Commons that large, 25.25 metre longer and heavier goods vehicles, which are of a 60 tonne double trailer combination, would not be allowed on United Kingdom roads for the foreseeable future. That decision was based on the result of a study commissioned by the Department for Transport, which highlighted a number of issues that make implementation of LHVs in the UK impractical either on a permanent or a trial basis. The issues that were influential in the Government’s decision are the risk of increased CO2 omissions and other drawbacks, including the modal shift from rail to road, a point to which the noble Baroness referred in her speech; the management of the road network; the substantial investment which will be needed for the infrastructure; uncertainty about their efficiency; new safety risks; and the fact that tougher safety or manoeuvrability standards cannot be mandated because of EU trade rules. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, asked about an individual who is working at the Commission in Brussels. My understanding is that this individual is an official within the DG TREN unit at the European Commission. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on for whom he speaks or what views he may or may not hold. All I would do is counsel the noble Lord not to believe everything that he reads in the newspapers. I think that I have covered most of the points made in this debate. If I have not, I will write. I am conscious that I might have missed one or two of the points made by the noble Baroness. If I have not covered her points, I will write. I should like to reiterate the Government’s strongly held belief that, in order for international rail freight to become a more attractive and competitive alternative and to enjoy a level playing field for passenger operators, it is imperative for the Commission to pursue with determination and vigour two indispensable objectives: namely, proper and comprehensive transposition by member states of existing and any future legislation, and a review of existing legislation, such as the first railway package, with the overall aim of clarifying and strengthening the legislative framework. A truly open European rail market will be achieved only when both those conditions have been met. I conclude as I started by congratulating the committee on an excellent report with which the Government are in almost total agreement and the noble Lord, Lord Freeman, on the way in which he introduced it.