10.42 am

Anne Snelgrove (South Swindon) (Lab): I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer) for introducing this Bill. Several hon. Members have introduced ten-minute Bills on the same subject. I am one, and my hon. Friends the
2 Mar 2007 : Column 1199
Members for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and for Worsley (Barbara Keeley) have also done so. That shows the weight of concern on the Labour Benches.

I should say to other hon. Members that one way of getting mini-motos off the streets of their constituencies is to introduce a ten-minute Bill on them. I received many complaints from my constituents between shortly after my election in 2005 and 25 October last year, when I introduced my ten-minute Bill. By December, the complaints had dropped remarkably. I commend my local police and the antisocial behaviour teams for their work on the issue. However, we need regulation.

Dr. Ladyman: Does my hon. Friend’s point not prove that the powers are there and that it is just a matter of getting the police to make use of them?

Anne Snelgrove: I thought that my hon. Friend might say that, so I was going on to say why I specifically support the Bill. I agree with the Minister that there are powers to seize and ways in which antisocial behaviour teams, the police and local councils can work together. Labour Members encourage that. I work very hard in my constituency to knock heads together, when necessary, to make it happen.

Mr. Flello: Might not one reason for the decline in the number of incidents reported in December be the fact that, as the summer months pass and winter comes, the misuse of off-road bikes decreases as it gets colder?

Anne Snelgrove: That is possible, although this winter’s weather has not been particularly bad. There have been a lot of incidents involving young people out on the streets of Swindon, so I think that the decline was due to our local crackdown.

I turn to the three reasons why I particularly support the Bill. One important issue is that regulation would mean that there would be information at the point of sale and curbs on irresponsible salesmen and women and on irresponsible parents buying the bikes. That is extremely important. We want to cut the number of such bikes on or off road and to regulate those that come through rigorously.

Safety is another issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley gave numerous examples of that. At his reception on Monday night, I saw with my own eyes some accidents involving off-road vehicles. I spoke to representatives of his local police, who thought that they had not found one off-road vehicle that was safe. That is shocking. It is important that regulation should ensure that such vehicles are safe on or off the roads. That is what regulation is for.

A third issue has not been mentioned: the legitimate racing of mini-motorbikes and other uses of off-road vehicles. When I first came across mini-motorbikes, I thought them ridiculous things. People, particularly young men in their 20s, looked stupid riding them. They looked absolutely daft, and I did not know why they wanted to ride them, although that was their choice. The bikes were also causing the problem mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey). They were causing trouble in my constituency for those, the elderly in particular, who wanted a quiet lifestyle and to enjoy their gardens.
2 Mar 2007 : Column 1200
I thought that we should ban the bikes—what was the problem? The council agreed.

Following discussions with organisations such as Honda, which has a successful factory in Swindon that does not make mini-motorbikes, and the British Motorcyclists Federation, I have realised that there is a legitimate industry in racing mini-motorbikes. The vehicles can cost up to £3,000. I accept that that is a legitimate sport and that we need not ban young people from having fun. If we regulate, ensure that the vehicles that they are riding are safe and provide them with off-road areas so that they do not churn up local parks or other green spaces that other people enjoy, there is a way ahead for those young people.

I recently visited the Fun-E-Farm, a quad biking track that also accepts mini-motorbikes, in Blunsdon, just outside my constituency. I met parents of young people who rode mini-motorbikes. They were grateful to the organisers for starting the track so that the vehicles could be used safely and legitimately. That is the way ahead. I hope that hon. Members will accept that there is a legitimate way ahead if the proposals for regulation are accepted by the Minister.

Dr. Ladyman: I do not know whether my hon. Friend is using the word “regulation” deliberately, but she has just made the speech that I would like to make. She has identified three areas in which we need to improve the regulation of the vehicles: how they are sold, used and made. However, regulation and registration are different. Changing the regulations would be outside the scope of the Bill. That is why I argue that we need to work to identify what changes to the law are really needed, rather than introduce the changes proposed in the Bill, which are not needed and would have nugatory value.

Anne Snelgrove: I thank the Minister for confirming that we are on the same side. Like other hon. Members, I look forward to discussing that on Second Reading.

The Government must consider the issue more deeply, and registration and regulation both need to come into that. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will consider the views of everyone who speaks in this debate so that we can have a safe mini-moto and off-road vehicle industry and so that young people can have fun without being a nuisance to those who want to enjoy their leisure time.