MP speaks up for unemployed drivers
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• The problem of unemployed lorry drivers automatically losing their hgv licences after being out of work for six months is to be discussed in the Commons.
Mr Ted Garrett (Labour MP, Wallsend), who will ask Mr John Peyton to review the licensing regulations as a matter of urgency, is raising the issue in an adjournment debate on Monday. Mr Garrett claims that hundreds of drivers cannot get jobs, despite the improving employment situation, because of the present rules.
"I have gone into this problem thoroughly," Mr Garrett told CM. "An hgv
driver who loses his licence in this way
must take a fresh test after six months. This means he must hire a lorry on which
to take the test, which can cost anything up to £22, and on top of that he must pay 16 to take the test.
"There are drivers who have been out of work for over a year who just cannot afford this kind of expense and are therefore barred from taking up jobs for which they have been trained."
In the debate, Mr Garrett intends to press the Minister to revise the regulations or, at least, to make provision for state grants or loans to help drivers to meet the cost of hiring a vehicle in which to take the test.
The Environment Department view is that the regulations were designed in the best interests of road safety; it can see no alternative to the retesting of drivers who have been off the road for any length of time.