DVSA has announced it will be opening nine test centre waiting rooms from Friday 30 October.
The nine test centres opening initially are:
- Alness
- Darlington MPTC
- Chesterfield
- Garretts Green
- Widnes
- Cambridge Brookmount Court
- Gillingham GVTS
- Maidstone
- Swindon MPTC
Once DVSA has reviewed the initial rollout and feedback from the waiting room visitors and examiners, it will assess other waiting rooms around the country.
These test centres have been chosen because:
- DVSA has been able to make them COVID-safe relatively quickly and simply
- Visitors have no other local amenities in walking distance
- They are geographically spread across England and Scotland
DVSA will not be opening any in Wales as there is no driver testing service in Wales due to the Welsh firebreak.
If your local test centre is in the initial rollout, you’ll receive another email from DVSA to explain the measures that have been put in place to help keep you, examiners and others waiting at the site safe. These measures will include:
- Wearing face covering at all times inside the waiting room
- Recording a visit by scan the QR code and ‘check in’ or recording it on a paper log
- Asking visitors to wipe down touch points when they enter the waiting room and before they leave
Users of this initial group of waiting rooms will be asked to provide feedback to a dedicated email address.
DVSA says it will continue to work with HSE and advise instructor associations on how more of our waiting rooms could be made safely available in line with COVID-secure measures.
4 thoughts on “Nine test centre waiting rooms to open from Friday”
Without access to toilets during the time when students are out will be difficult, do they accept that instructors will be defacating in the grounds during this time and DVSA will be cleaning up.
Not good enough.
Vast number of instructors still getting soaked standing outside in all weather’s. Inside of car getting wet as examiners want windows down.
Talk about 2nd class citizens.
Whilst this is good news, it is a totally inadequate response from DVSA. Both of the test centresvi use have waiting rooms that are currently completely unused. They have their own independent access and en suite toilet facilities not used by the examiners. Neither location has any alternative covered area available. As for the geographic spread – do DVSA not realise that South West England exists and slow that the South West has the lowest incidence of Corona virus in the country.
This is welcome and would be even more welcome at my nearest test centre – Burgess Hill. As a motorcycle instructor taking 2 students for consecutive MOD 1 and MOD 2, I spent 2 1/2 hours standing in the rain while my students were examined. It’s worth bearing in mind that I arrived there already wet and then accompanied my students back to base in the wet. Motorcycle instructors don’t have the benefit of arriving and leaving in a car, so are already exposed to the elements before we arrive at a test centre and have to then wait outside.