asked the Minister of Transport how many C licence holders are now registered; and in respect of how many vehicles in all they hold licences.

The latest available figures show that at 31st December, 1962, there were 569,000 C licence holders in respect of 1,226,000 vehicles.

Will my hon. and gallant Friend bear in mind that many of these 500,000 and more are men with small businesses who depend for their livelihood upon C licences? Will he approach the future of C licences with no preconceived ideas and approach the result of the Geddes Report in the same way and not buoy it up with any doctrinaire ideas of bolstering up the nationalised lorries, like the party opposite?

As my hon. Friend has indicated, this is a matter on which the Geddes Committee may well make a recommendation. As to the matter being determined by doctrinaire views, I can only say that the licence holders will have an opportunity of protecting themselves against this later in the year.

Is the Minister able to say how many C licence holders are doing A and B licence work?

I should imagine, very few indeed. We think that there are very few breaches of that part of the regulations.

The Minister should find out more about it.