Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) arrested and (b) prosecuted for shining laser pens at (i) road transport, (ii) train, (c) air transport drivers in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of arrests made for shining laser pens at road transport, train, or air transport drivers. The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of arrests broken down by offence group and police force area. These data cannot be broken down to identify those arrested for misuse of a laser pen.

The Ministry of Justice holds data relating to prosecutions. Data held centrally at the Ministry of Justice cannot be broken down to the level of detail requested. It is not possible to identify if a defendant was proceeded against for the misuse of a laser pen.