Roads Minister Mike Penning MP attended his local Hemel Hempstead MAG group last night and put his money where is mouth is so to speak: A biker since the age of 16, Mike joined MAG as a full member and urged the few riders in the room who weren’t already members, to do so.
The Hemel Hempstead MAG group is only a month old, one of over 40 new groups to start recently and was begun by Linda Farrugia, who immediately invited the Minister to attend a meeting, as the venue, The Midland Hotel, is within his Parliamentary constituency.
Mike addressed the group for a while, explaining which aspects of governance and roads policy were national and which were local and then was happy to take questions from riders for over half an hour.
He praised MAG’s lobbying work at all levels and appreciated how important it is that riders have a strong political voice. He discussed the Ministerial review into the new bike test, how he thought the GET A GRIP campaign was wonderfully proactive and that following MAG’s request, his Department were now investigating the legal case that the EU Commission have acted in breach of the Treaty of the EU, regards the Type Approval Regulation we are fighting.
On a lighter note he also said he was in the middle of sealing a deal on a 1974 Bonneville and hoped the rest of the summer would be as good as the weather had been in March.