Anti-bike off-road registration bill withdrawn

A Bill which sought to make all off-road bikes display number plates has been withdrawn.

MP Graham Stringer’s off-road registration Bill required all non-road going motorcycles to register with the DVLA under the same rules which apply to road legal bikes. Stringer said earlier this year that even MotoGP race bikes were not excluded.

The Bill, which was intended tackle anti-social use of mini motos, had been a source of concern for thousands of legitimate off-road riders and classic bike owners.
Stringer told the House of Commons today: “I have always accepted that the Bill is imperfectly drafted.”

Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said the Bill “was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and many law-abiding users of off-road vehicles would have been brought within the net”. 

The Bill was passed by MPs at its second reading on March 2 despite opposition from Government.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the new parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport, today reiterated an offer made during the second reading to set up an ‘interdepartmental taskforce’ to address concerns over mini moto use. Despite the withdrawal of the Bill, Stringer attempted to take credit for raising the issue.

He said: “It is worth noting that this is only the second Labour back bencher’s private Member’s Bill since 1997 that the Government have not supported that has had a second reading. The other one, the Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill, had a second reading but did not immediately become law. Whatever hon. Members’ views were on foxhunting, that Bill highlighted the importance of the issue, and eventually the law was changed.”

Stringer was unavailable for comment.