The battle to save two driving test centres in Angus has been given a boost, with the prospect of an extension on the closure date.
The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) bases in Arbroath and Forfar had been due to shut on March 18 however, that deadline may be pushed back following a meeting between officials and local instructors.
It means students who had booked a test after that time could sit their exam in the town they trained in.
Instructor Lez Wells, who is leading the campaign to save the centres, said the news was one of the few positives to come out of the DSA meeting.
He said, “They were trying to inform us of some of the reasoning behind their decision. They made the claim that the reason that they were to shut our centres was that there has to be over 100 people living per square kilometre within a 30-mile radius of the test centre.
“I don’t know the exact population of Arbroath or Forfar, but I know that it is over 100 people. Their claim is that if they take the population of Angus as a whole it is too small to support the two centres.”
The Angus centres are closing in favour of sending learners to sit their exam at a new facility in Dundee.
It has been estimated instructors’ costs will rise by15-20% and students may see a 30-40% tuition fee increase.
Mr Wells said, “The DSA were totally disinterested in the fact that it is going to cost students more money to take driving tests. They said that was none of their concern.
“They also said that they don’t believe a student needs to go to Dundee on lessons to familiarise themselves with the area and acclimatise before the test day.”
Angus MP Mike Weir raised the matter at Westminster and five or six of his colleagues are backing his calls to keep the centres open.
Online and written petitions to save the HQs are gathering pace, with almost all instructors in Angus lending their support to the drive.
Mr Wells said, “The Facebook petition is up and running at well over 2000 and we still have our target of gaining 10,000 signatures online.”
Around 15 instructors protested outside the Arbroath centre this month with Councillor David Fairweather.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user tgraham