Oral Answers to Questions

Ranil Jayawardena Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I defend no unsafe work practices on the railways. I agree with the hon. Lady that the railways should always aspire to the highest safety standards. She should remember that we have the safest railways in Europe, but I am very clear, as I said in earlier remarks, that lessons need to be learnt when things go tragically wrong, as they have done on a small number of occasions in recent years, and I expect changes to be made as a result of the lessons that are learnt from those tragic incidents.

[Mr Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire) (Con)]

T3. The residents of Herriard in my constituency have campaigned for many years against the disruptive, antisocial behaviour of some motorcyclists on the A339. I have written to my hon. Friend the Minister about Herriard being included in the acoustic noise camera trial, and I hope that he might use his good offices to direct the consultants who have been commissioned by the Department for Transport. Will he also separately commit to rolling them out to Herriard as early as possible if they are not part of the trial?

[Michael Ellis]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this point. That experimental equipment is very interesting. The number of locations for the noise camera trials will be limited, because at the moment it is only experimental. We need to factor in such things as speed limits, road type, road gradient, accessibility and safety considerations. I cannot absolutely commit to Herriard having that experimental equipment at the moment, but my officials and I are well aware of Herriard’s willingness to contribute to the trials and we will definitely bear it in mind.