HC Deb 24 June 1988 vol 135 c766W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many firms have block bookings at the HGV test centre at Beverley.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Five firms have block booking arrangements at the Beverley HGV driving test centre.

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport upon what principles block bookings at the Beverley HGV test centre are allocated.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

At Beverley, and all other HGV driving test centres, block booking arrangements are made with full-time training organisations which have a regular demand for HGV tests, provided that a reasonable amount of testing capacity remains to accommodate individual applicants.

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the waiting time for individual applications for tests at the Beverley HGV test centre for firms without block bookings.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

The forward booking date at Beverley HGV driving test centre is not kept separately for individual and block booked candidates. The forward booking date inclusive of both is currently 17 weeks. This is too long. We are urgently seeking ways to improve the situation.

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the commercial value for firms training for HGV licences of the value of block bookings at the Beverley HGV test centre.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

No financial estimate has been made. The Department's policy is to provide block booking facilities at Beverley and other HGV driving test centres wherever possible.

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport why block bookings are granted to HGV licence training firms at the Beverley HGV training centre.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

At all HGV driving test centres we provide block booking facilities so that firms can plan their HGV driver training programmes to known test dates. The extent to which block booking facilities can be made available is currently limited at Beverley by shortage of accommodation.