Councillors back campaign to reopen driving centre to tackle huge backlog

South Tyneside councillors have backed a campaign calling for the borough's former driving test centre (DTC) to be reopened.

- by Chris Binding Local Democracy Reporter @shieldsgazette

The South Shields DTC, in Jarrow’s Bede Industrial Estate, was closed in 2022 as part of plans to merge it with Sunderland's Driving Test Centre.

However, there have since been reports of impacts on test availability and waiting times, with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) announcing plans to recruit examiners to tackle the backlog.

The campaign to reopen the former driving test centre was recently relaunched by Vikki Holt, a driving instructor from Hebburn.

Vikki, who owns Top Gun Driving School, initially led the original campaign of driving instructors, which called on the DVSA to U-turn on the decision to close the centre.

The issue was brought into focus during the latest full meeting of South Tyneside Council at South Shields Town Hall.

A motion from Labour councillors asked the council to note thousands of candidates are "accessing or attempting to access the booking system when appointments are released every Monday" and that the next available dates for tests at Sunderland DTC involve a wait of more than six months.

The motion asked the council to recognise that "the role of an examiner can be a challenging one, given the significant increases since 2022 in private bookings without dual controls".

It was noted that "there has [also] been an increased number of no shows for tests as candidates shop around for the quickest available slot" and that calls to reopen the South Shields DTC have been backed by both of South Tyneside’s MPs.