New Test Postponed

The new motorcycle test has been postponed by six months due to a shortage of test centres. 

The new test was due to be introduced from September 29 but has now been pushed to March 30 next year. The news is an eleventh-hour reprieve for learners clamouring to do the current test. 

Chaos had loomed for learners taking the new test due to a drastic shortage of necessary test centres. Just 39 were expected to be ready in time, replacing around 260 existing test sites.

The Driving Standards Agency said the decision to delay would allow it to “carry on delivering motorcycle tests from a wider range of centres whilst working with motorcycle groups and to find a suitable solution for providing the new test service in problem locations.”

It comes after the Motorcycle Industry Association met with road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick to push for a delay.

The association’s policy director, Craig Carey-Clinch, said: “They made the right decision.”