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As test station closures Loom, where are ATFs?
Page 6
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By Joanna Bourke VOSA HAS REVEALED the dates three test stations will be closed, but admits that no Authorised Testing Facilities (ATFs) have yet been set up to replace them.
Following a seminar in St Austell, Cornwall. on 26 February to advise customers on the requirements for becoming an ATF, Kevin Rooney, VOSA's customer director, confirmed that: Steeton, Bradford will close on 23 April; Bredbury, Stockport, will close on 7 May; and a decision for the closure date of (Par) St Austell will be announced by the end of March. but there will be a minimum of three months' notice.
He also revealed VOSA's testing fee will remain at 151, and an additional fee can be added at the discretion of the ATF owner.
At present, all annual test bookings have to go through VOSA's call centre. but Rooney says bookings will be made directly with potential ATF operators.
He says that VOSA is pushing the idea that ATF owners can make profits by offering repair and maintenance services to those getting tested.
The nearest stations to St Austell will be Plymouth and Redruth. Steve Howard, transport manager at Roche, St Austellbased MacSalvors, says: "It's an extreme inconvenience and will be an expense we will have to end up absorbing."
According to Howard, what is a 15-minute journey to the St Austell testing station will have to become an hour journey to Plymouth, or 50 minutes to Redruth. He adds when travelling to Plymouth they would have to pay a toll for the Tamar Bridge.
Jo Tanner, the director of communications at the Freight Transport Association, adds: "Six months on and there is still no meat on the bones, just news of further test centre closures leaving us and our members in limbo. VOSA has been incredibly slow in setting out a clearly defined timeframe for ATFs,"
• Turn to page 8 for an exclusive Commercial Motor and Motor Transport survey into test station booking times.