Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Kramer on 24 July (WS 137), what tougher procedures and sanctions they propose for lorry drivers caught exceeding the new speed limits.

In conjunction with the speed limit change, we are considering whether to adopt a new approach to the offence of exceeding a vehicle specific speed limit. This would be to ensure that drivers receive a strong warning letter from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for a first offence, and are called to a driver conduct hearing for a subsequent offence, where the Traffic Commissioner will consider whether action should be taken against their licence. We could also consider in future taking this approach for all speeding offences in a large vehicle, though it would require changes to the way offences are recorded.

In addition police forces can refer vocational licence holders directly to driver conduct hearings at a first offence.

The Senior Traffic Commissioner publishes guidance and directions about driver conduct hearings. We anticipate consultation about revised guidance will begin later this year.