Road Traffic Control and Immobilisation of Vehicles

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what discussions his Department has had with the (a) Association of Chief Police Officers, (b) Metropolitan Police and (c) Secretary of State for the Home Department on the (i) time taken to clear the scene of motorway incidents and (ii) activities of companies which use wheel-clamping to enforce parking restrictions on private property in the last three years. (294769)

The Highways Agency (HA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have entered into a strategic agreement setting out how they will work together to improve the way road traffic incidents on the Strategic Road Network are managed.

The HA/ACPO Partnership Board meets three times a year when a number of issues, including incident clear-up times, are discussed. The last meeting was held on 4 August 2009.

The Secretary of State for Transport met with ACPO recently.

My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Gillingham Paul Clark, have met with/spoken to Home Office Ministers. Departmental officials are in regular contact with their opposite numbers in the Home Office about the activities of companies that use vehicle immobilisation and/or removal to enforce parking restrictions on private land.