Anger mounts over VOSA test station closures

摘要

Attempts last month by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) to quell the rumpus over its "authorised testing facility" (atf) plans (Transport Engineer June and July) seem to have backfired badly.rnEarly in the month it was announced that the VOSA test station at Llandrindod Wells, Powys, is to close on 25 September. This follows the decision to close three other test stations and a further 10 test lanes. A seminar at Llandrindod Wells was organised on 15 July "to discuss the closure and future plans for testing in the area." This meeting is reported to have attracted an audience of around 60, virtually all of whom are said to have been hostile to the atf plans and to the Llandrindod Wells test station closure.rnMeanwhile at another VOSA-organised meeting nearrnKeighley, West Yorkshire, concerned local operators were told that closure of the VOSA test station at Steeton was now going ahead "come what may" next March. Fierce opposition to plans to close the Steeton test station had prompted local Labour MP Ann Cryer to campaign for the decision to be reversed and to win a six-month postponement from the then transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick. But now Mr Fitzpatrick has been moved from the Department for Transport (DfT) to the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and has been succeeded as transport under secretary by Chris Mole (Transport Engineer July).