Plans to close town’s driving test centre
A DRIVING test centre is to close – with instructors warning the new site could make roads less safe.
Pontypridd’s driving test centre has been earmarked for closure, with a new centre in Llantrisant replacing it.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) confirmed the centre will close as “it is failing to meet the national requirements for the driving test”.
The agency said due to the closure, a new centre in Llantrisant will soon open, and it has promised better facilities, more tests and candidates being assessed on “all elements” of the new driving exam.
It means candidates, many of who live in the Rhondda, will soon have to travel seven miles further to take their test.
Ian Edwards of local driving school IDRiVE Cymru has been in discussion with the DVSA over the move since it was first mooted in 2015.
He said: “It’s a bad thing for learners and instructors. We have fought against the move and there are instructors who will struggle to make a living now because of it – it’s so much further to go than Pontypridd for most people in the Valleys.
“For learners, it’s completely at odds with what the DVSA are saying they want to do with the new driving test, which looks to test people on faster and more dangerous roads. They are moving it to Llantrisant – an area that has no access to the A470, no one-way systems and no slip roads or national speed limit roads.
“Learners passing their tests there will be less safe on the roads because it will be an easier test – there’s not so much to be tested on.”
Mr Edwards also said with the new developments such as the 460-home Cefn Yr Hendy site to be built between Miskin and Pontyclun and the new 5,000home village between Pencoed and Llantrisant, the area is set to become even more congested, also to the detriment of driving tests.
“It’s a cost-saving exercise from the DVSA dressed up to be in our best interests,” he explained.
Rhondda Assembly Member Leanne Wood said: “I wrote to [the DVLA] last year opposing such a move because of the wide variety of driver experiences that Pontypridd offers and its accessibility for learner drivers from the Rhondda.
“Some driving instructors from the Rhondda also got in touch to say that Llantrisant would be too far away – even on a two-hour lesson due to frequent heavy traffic – for learners from the top of the valley. Many instructors from the Rhondda will be angered by this relocation.”
Announcing the news in a letter to Ms Wood, the DVSA said: “Full test routes cannot always be completed in the allocated time due to traffic congestion and, regrettably, we are forced to cancel the first and last test slots on a frequent basis.
“The site does not have parking facilities and therefore candidates cannot be tested on the car parking manoeuvre.”
The centre on Pwllgwaun Road offers test for cars and approved driving instructors, while a separate centre at Merthyr Industrial Park in Pentrebach offers tests for car, motorcycle and taxi drivers. The Llantrisant large goods vehicle site offers tests for lorry, bus and large vehicle drivers.
The letter seen on Wednesday described the experience at Pontypridd as “sub-standard”, adding: “The waiting room for candidates and driving instructors is small and cramped, and welfare facilities are basic including poor kitchen facilities and an external toilet, which is shared by staff and customers.”
It also said other alternatives suggested to the DVSA by Ms Wood, including Treforest Industrial Estate, were “not operationally suitable”, and “would be considerably more expensive than using existing DVSA-owned estate”.