Compulsory Passenger Insurance ?
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BY OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT
TUEMBERS of Parliament will soon be I.V1 faced with the difficult task of deciding which vehicles, if any, should be exempted from a Bill which would make it unlawful for motor vehiclesto be used on the road without insurance covering the injury or death of a passenger. If M.P.s do not succeed in finding a satisfactory answer, then the measure stands little chance of reaching the Statute Book The Bill—a private one, introduced by Mr. John Cronin. the Labour Member for Loughborough—was given its Second Reading in the Commons last Friday, but not before many speakers. including Mr, John Hay, Parliamentary Secrdtary to the Ministry of Transport, _had expressed anxieties about the consequences • if it were to become law.
Mr. Hay pointed out that the majority of owners of commercial vehicles, which were covered by the Bill, did not insure againSt passenger liability because their vehicles rarely carried passengers. Many firms, he said, had strict rules against the drivers of their vehicles taking passengers at all.
Milk Floats and Tractors?
What, he asked, was to be done about vehicles such as -milk floats and tractors which clearly were not designed to carry passengers, but which on occasions might well be doing so?
Mr. Nigel Fisher (Tory, Surbiton) said he imagined road hauliers would object if they had to pay passenger insurance when they did not want their drivers to pick up passengers anyway, while Mr. R. Gresham Cooke (Tory, Twickenham) made special mention of British Road 1312 Services who did not permit passengers to be carried.
"Presumably B.R.S. would not be forced to take out cover for passengers when to carry passengers is against the law or against their own rules."
Mr. R. J. Mellish (Labour, Bermondsey) said that he would oppose those who wanted to contract out. "Compulsory insurance is right in principle and it should apply to all," he declared.