Blitz on filth
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• The Government last week turned down a suggested ban on commercial vehicles with exhaust emission on the "wrong" side.
Mr Harold Gurden (Tory, Selly Oak), who raised the idea in the Commons, pointed out that it was not expensive or difficult to have an emission pipe on both sides of a vehicle, with control from the cab.
He spoke of vehicles going from Britain into Europe causing the same problem by spraying the exhaust on to bus queues and those waiting in traffic jams.
But Mr John Peyton told him that wherever the pipe was put it would annoy somebody as long as it let out filth. The point was to cut down the filth.
He pointed out that from October this year all new vehicles had to be so constructed that they met the smoke emission limits laid down by the British Standard on diesel engines.
This meant that the smoke emitted would be scarcely visible in ordinary conditions.
Opposition transport spokesman Mr Fred Mulley supported the new measures, but noted that it would take time before the new rules applied to all vehicles. He urged Mr Peyton to strengthen enforcement and the number of enforcement officers.