Vehicle owners to pay fixed penalty fines?
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• Lorry and van hire firms could be severely hit by Government plans to make owners of vehicles as well as drivers responsible for paying fines for motoring offences dealt with under the fixed penalty System.
The Home Secretary, Mr Robert Carr, announced the Government's intention to introduce legislation on owner liability on Monday.
A Bill will be presented to MPs as soon as possible.
The proposal means that registered owners will be liable to pay fines for parking offences, failure to pay excess meter charges, failing to display a valid vehicle excise licence and stationary lighting offences.
But the Government intends that liability shall attach to the registered owner of a vehicle only if a fixed penalty is not paid within a reasonable time. This could be a direct inducement to hirers of vehicles to ignore fixed penalty fines.
Mr Carr has given an undertaking that he will begin immediate consultations with all interests primarily concerned, including lorry, van and car hire companies.
The reason for the Government's action is that the fixed penalty system has been abused by many drivers who deliberately disregard its requirements and evade all liability.
In 1971 there were 1,997.494 fixed penalty notices issued in England and Wales, mainly for parking offences but only 65 per cent were paid.
Under the present law only the driver of a vehicle can be prosecuted under the fixed penalty system. The proposed new law has the backing of the Metropolitan Police and the GLC and is a direct result of the recommendations of the Commons Select Committee which last session examined the whole range of urban transport problems.