Motorcycle Licences

Steve Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

I am extremely grateful to the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), for being here to answer the debate tonight. Earlier today I was afraid that there would be nobody left in the Department for Transport to take the matter on. I hope my hon. Friend will not mind too much if I place on record the admiration of a great many motorcyclists for all the work that his colleague and my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) did as roads Minister; he wrestled manfully with the subject.

I declare my interest as a motorcycle owner and rider of about 24 years’ standing with an unrestricted licence. I am chairman of the associate parliamentary group for motorcycling. Motorcycling is a joy, not least because it combines freedom with a crucial need for personal responsibility and skill. Riding well requires consideration, courtesy and concentration. I believe that every serious motorcyclist will pursue the development of their skills as a matter of course, and that that journey begins with basic training and licensing.

Motorcyling is also something for which young people yearn. The journey from being a 15-year-old with a superbike poster on the wall to being the rider of that superbike can feel heart-rendingly long. The smiles on my colleagues’ faces will inform the House that of course I speak of myself. Now, thanks to the EU and the regulations, that journey almost certainly will be heart-rendingly long, if it is undertaken at all. It is therefore with a sense of grinding determination that I bring before the House the issue of licensing individuals to ride motorcycles under European Union legislation.

As my hon. Friend the Minister knows, since the coalition came to power this is not the first battle that bikers have fought against the EU and its intervention in relatively petty matters that infringe on minute details relating to the ownership of their bikes. He and I have corresponded, including through written questions, on so-called anti-tampering legislation, which has no supporting evidence and which may also be related to licensing. I understand that progress has been made and I am grateful to the Government for the vigour with which they pursued that matter. However, the motorcycle community remains very anxious and I am concerned that the Government should defend their rights and freedoms.

There was a time when the EU at least pretended to uphold the principle of subsidiarity, which was originally explained as decisions being taken at the lowest practical level. If that had not long ago been exposed as a sham, the heavy-handed mistreatment of bikers in relation to both anti-tampering and licensing would prove yet again that the doctrine is nothing more than a cynical ruse to distract us from the reality of ruthlessly centralised power over comparatively minor matters—matters that I have found often become mere bargaining chips in protracted negotiations over one bureaucratic matter or another.

I turn to the shambles of the bike test. Brussels-dictated changes to the motorcycling licence regime are far more advanced than the attack on bike modification. The second driving licence directive changed the test. From the beginning of 2003, the Motorcycling Industry Association, the MCI, warned that the proposals were flawed. The MCI argued that the manoeuvres element of the test gold-plated the directive and would require very large test sites; that the size of the sites would in turn greatly reduce the number of proposed test centres; that the Driving Standards Agency proposal was likely to result in a separate off-road element to the test, and that therefore the full cost of a test would rise substantially. Indeed, this is what came to pass when the test was implemented in 2009.

The number of test centres dropped from 223 to fewer than 40. As the new test was in two separate segments tested on different days, fees rose by about 30%. The Driving Standards Agency’s antiquated trainer booking system could not cope with the new two-part tests, creating chaos. The changes were delayed by six months at the last minute, by the late split of the test into two parts, which left trainers and learners in limbo. The result was massive aggravation for trainers and pupils and, more seriously, the beginnings of a potential new problem: permanent learners.

Passing the full test is now so bureaucratic and inconvenient that, two years after passing their initial compulsory basic training, it can be expected that at least some new bikers will choose to take their CBT again so that they can drive for another two years without passing their full test. So a new system supposed to make the roads safer and to make motorcyclists safer could make them less safe by creating permanent learners who are not only not fully qualified road users, but who may be less likely to develop the interest in motorcycling that encourages the development of essential skills. So these changes may be not only expensive and aggravating; they may also be counter-productive.

Following uproar from the motorcycling community, the Transport Committee resolved to look into the matter in July 2009. In March 2010, before the election, the Committee found the DSA’s implementation and delivery to be lacking and agreed with almost all the points made by the industry. However, the DSA seems to have taken little action to address the findings. In June 2010, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead, the then new Minister, announced a review into the issue because of widely expressed concerns

“about the safety of the off-road module 1 part of the test and about the difficulty of accessing the limited number of off-road test centres.”

That announcement was warmly received by bikers. The review was due to report in autumn 2010. Here we are, almost two years later, and we still do not have a projected date for publication.

I appreciate that the matter is being looked at thoroughly, in great depth, with dedicated research commissioned and wide consultation undertaken, with results to be provided, presumably, in the fullness of time, but this is too long. The attitude of my hon. Friend the former roads Minister throughout has impressed the biking community, which strongly believed that he was on their side. As a motorcycle action group member, I am sure he was, but as the years roll by with no resolution in sight, some of them are losing faith.

The Government deserve full credit for the interim mini-fixes that have occurred. Examiners have been redeployed and a few new test sites have opened. Module 1 was slightly amended to become fairer. A single event test is being trialled. Flexibility between modules is sometimes possible. But I put it to the Minister that the core problems remain. More test sites are needed. Geographical coverage is too patchy and bikers believe that trainers working far from the module 1 test centres are going out of business, leaving further gaps in trainer coverage. Some accidents still take place on the module 1 test, which includes manoeuvres that are not necessarily easy to relate to the real world. The two part test remains complicated and bureaucratic for candidates. A single event, on-road test remains the simplest format to understand. Anything else is a discouragement to people considering taking the motorcycle test. The evidence since 2009 proves it.

Progress on the review appears to be painfully slow. It took only six months to split the test in two in 2009, but reconsidering that decision appears to be mired in a highly complex and bureaucratic health and safety process that is still unresolved after two years. Bikers who have been consulted praised the roads Minister and even praise DFT officials, who they believe are doing their best, but they have complained that certain quango officials lack a can-do attitude and that they have been rigid and unrealistic in interpreting the directives. Will Sir Humphrey triumph in both Europe and the UK in thwarting past, present and future Ministers? I implore the Minister to encourage the motorcycle community with a concrete prospect of the review concluding, in the manner that the original policy set out, and with substantive recommendations to improve the shambles left by the previous Government in collusion with the EU.

I regret to report that the misery being inflicted on bikers by the EU does not end there. There is now, in addition, a third driving licence directive, which was translated into domestic law in January 2011. The EU has again left chaos in its wake. In January 2013, the licence categories must change. Currently, to obtain a motorcycle licence a rider must first purchase a provisional motorcycle licence and then pass compulsory basic training, which enables them to ride on the public road with L-plates for up to two years. To obtain a full motorcycle licence, they must pass a motorcycle theory test and then a practical test. There are different categories of licence and two routes to a full licence.

The new system is, of course, more complex: riders under 24 years old will be required to go through more stages and repeats of the same test to reach a full licence; a new A2 category is to be introduced, so four categories replace three, at least if we include the medium-power bike to which riders would be restricted; the age for riding a full-power motorcycle rises from 21 to 24; and the top speeds of restricted mopeds is reduced. I have to say, from my own experience of riding a 50 cc moped, that reducing the top speeds seems to be a measure that could create danger rather than solve it.

How many under-24-year-olds will be willing to jump through all those hoops? How many can afford to? The effect will be to discourage cheap and convenient transport for many young people, which could be a real lifeline to help them into work, and certainly to fulfil their lives. It might add to congestion as people turn to cars instead of bikes. It will certainly secure the primacy of the direct access route for older learners.

As if all that was not complicated enough, 11 months later, in December 2013, the sizing of bikes in the new categories changes again. Rather than having one co-ordinated disruption, the system will have to change and then change again within a year. All those trainers who diligently complied with the new rules and bought equipment in advance could be left out of pocket and up the Swannee by the capriciousness of the EU. It is as if the EU is deliberately trying to cause as much expense and inconvenience as possible. Some cynics have suggested that officials would like to eliminate motorcycling. I would not go that far, but I know that even when the EU consults it does not listen; it goes through the motions and then does what its bureaucrats want anyway.

I appreciate that the Minister is not responsible for Britain’s membership of the EU and that the Government have been attempting to clear up a mess dumped on us by Brussels but, I refer him to the unfinished review and the need for: an easily accessible, single-event test; a testing regime that is easy to understand; cost-effectiveness for both consumers and the institutional structures; and full national coverage. I remind him that the increase in the size of the 125 cc market, together with the reduction in test numbers, might be an early indication of a growing category of permanent learners. If that proves to be the case, the EU-imposed testing regime will be failing by its own standards.

As I conclude my remarks, I will return to where I began by paying tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead—he is now in his place—who has really fought for the interests of motorcyclists. Both I and the motorcycling community are grateful for all he has done and wish him well in his new role.

Finally, motorcycling is not merely a form of transport; it is the exercise of liberty under the law, personal responsibility and individual skill. It is sometimes a hobby and sometimes a way of life. It is a joy to which many aspire and which many of us treasure. The EU and the DSA together are working towards ruining it. Will the Government please sort out this mess and tell us when they will do so?