It was an honour to attend the Houses of Parliament on 3 July, with Brake, the road safety charity, to celebrate the work of their supporters alongside my colleagues Laura Merry, Rachel Green and Katie Charlesworth.
It was a beautiful evening for the event, which was held at the Commons Terrace Pavilion overlooking the River Thames.
We heard from Mary Williams, the founder of Brake who thanked those for attending and for the support the charity had been given over the past year. Mary outlined her plans for Brake for the coming year and in particular their plans for Road Safety Week, which is taking place from the 18–24 November 2019.
Mary handed over to Michael Ellis, Minister of State for Transport, who has recently been appointed into this role. Michael echoed the fantastic work Brake and their supporters have carried out.
Steve Maddock of Direct Line Group and Chair of the Motor Insurers Bureau presented the Parliamentarian of the Year award to Maria Eagle MP for the work she has done to campaign for the law to be changed in relation to dangerous old tyres on HGV and PSV vehicles. Maria began her campaign after meeting Frances Molloy, whose son Michael was killed along with two others when he was travelling back from a music festival. The tyre on the coach Michael was travelling in blew and the coach crashed. The tyre was 19 years old, one year older than Michael himself.
As a result of Maria’s campaigning, the government has agreed to launch a ten-week consultation to ban old tyres on HGV and PSV vehicles and it is hoped that by the end of the year they can introduce legislation to ban these tyres.
#Brakecharity #OldTyresKill
Emma Saville, Partner, Lyons Davidson Solicitors
