To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Maritime and Coastguard Agency this year censured the ferry operator between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island in County Antrim for carrying a fuel tanker along with passengers on the route; and, if so, what form the censure took. [HL601]

On 24 October 2008 marine surveyors from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency issued a formal improvement notice to the MV CANNA requiring the training of its crew in the carriage of dangerous goods and observance of its document of compliance.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is evidence that lorries travelling via the Holyhead ferry to and from Ireland are discriminated against compared to other ferry routes to and from Ireland. [HL714]

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) carries out compliance checks on heavy goods vehicles at or close to ports throughout the country. In planning checks VOSA takes into account volumes of traffic through each port and the rates of non-compliance. In the first half of the current financial year (April-September 2008) over half of the vehicles checked at Dalar Hir near Holyhead were issued with prohibition notices for mechanical defects, drivers' hours' irregularity or overloading. A similar proportion of vehicles were checked near Liverpool docks with similar rates of offending.