Plans 'set to privatise all driving tests'

Plans are being drawn up to close driving test centres and privatise tests, with community centres and supermarkets used as a base for examiners, union leaders claimed yesterday.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said it had seen leaked documents showing that the Driving Standards Agency was exploring options to close test centres and use private firms as "delegated examiners".

Officials claimed the leaks proved there were plans to make use of community centres, supermarkets and other sites as a base for examiners to work from.

The plans followed moves by the government to study ways of providing driving tests more efficiently at a lower cost and whether they could be undertaken by other organisations inside or outside of the public sector, said the PCS.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: "These new documents shed more light on the plans being hatched behind closed doors by senior managers and ministers. Worryingly, it is the latest evidence of the creeping privatisation of the agency's work, which puts ideology before road safety."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "No decisions have been taken on future testing provision."