Driving Instructors Protest against Closure of Another Test Centre

Mar 03 2008

Driving Instructors who use the southend Driving Test Centre, in Essex, are up in arms, as the inevitable closure of their local test centre looms closer.

They staged a protest on Friday 29th February to try to reverse the Driving Standards Agency’s decision to open a new Super Centre in Basildon, a good 40 minutes drive from southend. This will mean that students doing their driver training in Southend will need to take two-hour lessons to be able to familiarise themselves with some of the trickier parts of Basildon to prepare for their Driving Test.

The Driving Standards Agency denies that the relocation plans are a done deal, saying, “The relocation is something being considered. It will be subject to public consultation”.

The new Super Centre, planned to be located in Paycock Road, will also be able to accommodate tests for motor cycles, PCV and LGV tests. This will cause major problems during peak hours, to an already heavily congested industrial area of Basildon. It will be very interesting to see what the residents of Basildon have to say about the matter; that is as long as the ‘public consultation’ goes ahead of course.