I’ve mentioned several times the furore over the DSA’s plans to close the Workington Theory Test Centre, and how the government was sticking its nose in.
Well, at the end of the day sensible logic lost, and the junior transport minister, Mike Penning, has forced the game result. Although the test centre only does about 3,000 tests a year – it’s capacity is 15,000 tests (so it’s running at only 20% capacity) - this idiotic coalition we are suffering has decided that in spite of all the cuts being made, this is one that shouldn’t be!
Penning has said:
I am clear there should not be a gap in theory test provision in Workington.
If a suitable alternative facility is not in place by September 1, I have arranged for a mobile test centre (bus) to be temporarily placed in the area to ensure continuity.
Can you believe this idiot? The DSA was closing it because it wasn’t cost effective.
And Tony Cunningham, the Workington MP who chose this as his cause célèbre, has wasted no time adding a few noughts to his previous tag line about people having to travel miles to Carlisle (the proposed alternative). It’s now “hundreds of miles” they would have had to travel – if this had dragged on any longer, no doubt it would have risen to “thousands”.
Just to remind Mr Cunningham that Carlisle is 32 miles from Workington. So the worst that could have happened is that people would have had to travel an extra 32 miles. I don’t think that classifies as “hundreds” – except in Mr Cunningham’s strange world.
Meanwhile, the rest of us – even those who DO live “hundreds of miles” away – are going to have to pay for the three staff who are only 20% occupied.