Road Safety Bill [HL]

I very much welcome the amendment, but it has some weaknesses. When I was out with the police 10 days ago they told me, ““Round here they are very quick at releasing clamped vehicles—like, in minutes””. People have keys to release cars quickly. The police clamp vehicles and quickly remove them to a pound. It costs £200 and the production of a valid tax disc, insurance and MoT test certificate to get the vehicles back. Is a fixed penalty of £100 a realistic fee to charge if a vehicle needs clamping? It is likely that the vehicle driver will be guilty of other offences besides not being insured. We must have regard to the fact that it costs a lot both to detect vehicles and to take them to a pound, which is often quite a long way away. In all cases the fixed penalty and the fine system should ensure that the reasonable costs of the authorities shall be met for taking vehicles away. The only reason why the exercise in which I took part ended was that the cells were full, and we had already taken seven vehicles to the pound. We had to stop because there was no more room. That is the reality. Many people driving untaxed and uninsured cars are young people on low incomes. One has to be careful that there is adequate public transport in those areas because there is the problem that people must get about. The cost of insurance for a young person is very high and often very much more than the cost of the car they buy. That is for the minimal insurance cover that people often have. I welcome what the Minister said—it is almost overdue—but will he reflect on the amount of the penalties, and make some inquiries of the enforcement authorities of what their costs really are in dealing with those people to ensure that the penalty meets the crime, to paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan?