Caravan MOT-Still Hope it Might not Happen
(Moved from the Social Room)
The following is a copy of a E-Mail the result of signing the petition against MOT for caravans:-
Dear Friends,
Although the EU Transport Committe didn't remove Caravans from the vote on July 2nd, I am able to give you a hope that we may still be able to influence the outcome and remove Caravans. This is because, as you can see in the reply I have received from a Member of European Parliament, there are are still a number of discussions between the UK Government and the EU before a final vote later this year. I have received similar emails from MEPs of most UK political parties.
(start quote)
Dear Mr Coley
I am contacting you following the vote in the European Parliament on 2nd July 2013 regarding the European Commission’s new road safety and roadworthiness package. I felt it was important to update you on the matter, in particular regarding the testing of caravans.
At the Strasbourg plenary session MEPs approved proposals for new EU rules to test the roadworthiness of vehicles and set minimum standards for technical roadside inspections with the aim of reducing the number of road fatalities across Europe by 50% between 2010 and 2020.
My West Midlands colleague, Phil Bennion MEP, who has been following this issue for the Liberal Group, put together a press release following the vote which can be read here:
http://philbennion.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140&catid=7&Itemid=196
A majority of MEPs voted to exempt light trailers and agricultural tractors from a new testing regime, but unfortunately the European Parliament voted to include caravans with the size up to 2000kg. We believe that caravans should not have been singled out, and Mr Bennion actually asked for a split vote to remove the reference to caravans in the compromise created during the Transport Committee negotiations. We still have concerns regarding the testing of medium sized trailers over 2000kg and caravans in the scope of the regulations. This is because our position was to exclude all trailers up to 3500kg in the scope.
The vote in Strasbourg represents the European Parliament’s adopted amendments to the European Commission’s proposals. The Parliament’s position will now form the basis for negotiations with Council (made up of relevant Ministers from each EU Member State) to agree a compromise text before the European Parliament will have a final vote on the new rules later this year.
My Liberal colleagues on the Transport Committee have worked hard to exclude light and medium trailers from MoT testing and throughout the negotiations there has been no evidence to suggest that we need to apply MoT tests to caravans. As I said previously, efforts made in the Transport Committee before the plenary vote helped negotiate a significant proportion of O2 trailers out of the scope in the Parliament’s position. If the UK government can find sufficient allies, and we will support it in doing so, in seeking to exclude all trailers up to 3500kg, it may well be able to negotiate the remaining trailers and caravans out of the scope of the legislation.
Please be assured that we are continuing to monitor this situation.
Thank you again for your correspondence.
Yours sincerely,
Rebecca Taylor MEP (end quote)
I also received this comment from Phil Bennion, which only encourages more of us to sign and support the petition :-
"The European Parliament as a whole is scheduled to vote on the roadworthiness package in July. This will then be followed by negotiations between the Parliament and Council (made up of relevant Ministers
from each EU Member State). If the UK government can find sufficient allies, it may well be able to negotiate the remaining trailers and caravans in this category out of the scope of the legislation."
Our campaign is nearing 500 supporters and this wouldn't have been possible without your support - thank you. We have an opportunity now to build on this momentum and bring more people in to strengthen our campaign
Can you take a moment to tell more of your friends and family about the good news on Facebook, Twitter and email?
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/force-eu-to-abandon-mot-s-for-caravans
This is a really good chance to give our campaign a boost and help win the changes we want to see - let’s make the most of it!
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/force-eu-to-abandon-mot-s-for-caravans
Thanks
Michael Coley
You received this email because you signed the petition 'Force EU to abandon MOT's for Caravans.'. If you don't want to receive emails from the 'Force EU to abandon MOT's for Caravans.' campaign in the future,
Any one else had an E-Mail like this.
Graham