Row over the Severn Scots test sites close
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Haulage associations are urg ing regular users of the Severn River crossing to continue shunning the bridge's electronic tag system after failing again to win back their 10% discount.
Their plea comes after a meeting with Severn River Crossing on Friday, in which they were told to provide evidence that a reduction in tolls would help the bridge's operator as well as its users.
The Road Haulage Association says that if hauliers pay cash it will cause delays on the crossing and administration problems for SRC.
However SRC did promise to send hauliers monthly statements if they hold accounts, and it is considering phoning or faxing hauliers when their accounts are running low. It says it will look into allowing hauliers to interchange tags between trucks when they buy three or more tags, instead of the current minimum outlay of five,
• Two Scottish HGV driving test centres are to close as part of a national programme of cuts by the Driving Standards Agency. The centres, at Arbroath and Elgin, are the only truck test sites on a list of 22 centres in Britain earmarked for closure, with predicted total savings of more than £200,000.
Closing the two HGV centres is expected to save the DSA £7.100 a year. Both are underused outstations with no permanent staff, says an agency spokesman. The Arbroath centre in Angus had never been used, while Elgin handled fewer than three tests a week.
The nearest test centres for truck operators are at Perth and Inverness, respectively 37 and 41 miles away from Arbroath and Elgin which will close on 1 July and 30 April.
No further closures of HGV test centres are planned, accord
ing to the USA, which took over testing from the Department of Transport in 1990.
Would-be truck drivers are expected to be exempt from having to sit an examination on a separate day to their practical driving test after July 1996, when learner car drivers will have to sit two exams.
Instead HGV learner drivers are likely to be asked questions specific to trucks as part of their practical exam, once an EC directive affecting the driving licence is implemented.