Protest on threat to L-test centre

Dudley's only driving test centre is under threat of closure as part of a shake-up in the West Midlands.

The Driving Standards Agency confirmed that closure of the centre in Lake Street, Lower Gornal, was a possibility under the reorganisation, which could see the creation of a new "super-centre" in Wolverhampton.

Chairman of the Quinton and District Association Instructors' Association Robert Hill said that he had been told by a source within the Driving Standards Agency that the centre could close under the restructuring plans.

The future of the Kidderminster test centre has already been under review for the past five months, but Mr Hill said that it was the first time that he had heard about the possible closure of the Dudley centre.

Mr Hill, who is based in Halesowen, said that it would mean that his pupils would face a one-hour journey to the Wolverhampton centre, leaving them too tired to practise before the test.

He said that it followed the closure of the centre in Quinton which his pupils had previously used, and said that the increased travelling costs would be passed on to pupils, who were often people on low incomes.

"It's a massive gap, we used to have centres in Stourbridge, Halesowen and Bromsgrove," he said.

"The one at Kidderminster has been under review for a long time, but we thought the one at Lower Gornal was pretty safe because they built a new car park."

He believed that cost-cutting was the main motivation behind the plans, saying it would be much cheaper to employ a large number of examiners under one roof than have several test centres around the region.

Mr Hill said there had also been an above-inflation increase in the fees for the test, which had gone up from £48 to £56.50, and the theory exam which had risen from £28.50 to £30.

The chairman of Dudley Council's select committee on community safety, Councillor Adrian Turner, said that he was totally opposed to any move to close the centre.

Driving Standards Agency spokeswoman Chris Lee said that the organisation had applied to build a new "multi-test" centre in Wolverhampton, but had been refused permission.

She said that the agency was considering an appeal against this decision, but could not say which test centres would close until the location of the new multi-test centre had been resolved. ADD Julian Phillips of Bewdley has been campaigning to keep the Kidderminster centre open and has collected 1,140 signatures for a petition.

The 23-year-old believes closing the centre may deter teenagers from getting behind the wheel. He said: "I am not going to be happy until they decide to keep the driving test centre open."