The new driving test centre for Reading will officially open this week.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has announced the date and location of the new driving test centre, which will have more examiners and offer more tests than the old one at the point of it closing.
The government organisation responsible for providing tests was forced to close the previous driving test centre on Elgar Road in March when the landlord announced plans to redevelop the site for housing.
Since then, DVSA moved all its examiners to a temporary driving test centre at the Holiday Inn Reading-South to ensure no tests were lost from the town.
Now, the government organisation has announced that the first day of driving tests at the new site at Pacific House, Imperial Way, Whitley, will be on Thursday, June 26.
To add to the positive news, five examiners will work at the new centre.
Each examiner can conduct up to seven tests per day, meaning 35 tests can be taken on a typical day.
The DVSA also states that a further two staff will be in training, who are expected to deploy into the new centre in the coming months, making up seven full-time examiners in total.
This compares to four examiners at the site in Elgar Road, Katesgrove, before it was closed.
The new centre will have space to expand to accommodate a total of 12 examiners in the future as well.
DVSA’s recruitment of new examiners is part of its plan to significantly reduce driving test waiting times across the country in the coming months.
Rosie Gaines, the DVSA’s operational delivery manager, said: “DVSA’s priorities here are to bring waiting times down and provide a permanent driving test centre for the town.
“Our new site in Reading will be home to extra driving examiners who will provide more tests than the old Elgar Road site used to. It’s a modern space, which will benefit instructors, examiners and learners.
“We’d like to thank local instructors and learners for their patience while we worked to open this new centre.”
The last day of testing at the Holiday Inn will be June 25, with the first day of testing at the Pacific House centre beginning on June 26.
It comes as the DVSA won permission to occupy an office in Pacific House in May. You can view the application by typing reference PL/25/0438 into the council’s planning portal.
The Reading Liberal Democrats introduced a motion at a full council meeting calling for the DVSA to publish a clear action plan to reduce driving test waiting times.
