It is unfair to blame my MP, Duncan Hames, for the decisions over driving test centre closures. I am one of his constituents and I know he has tried to have the closure of the Trowbridge driving test centre reviewed.

When I last read reports about the driving test centre campaign in July, I contacted Mr Hames asking him to put pressure on the Road Safety Minister to conduct a full consultation with all those affected by the closure. This included specifically the residents of Monkton Park which is in his Chippenham constituency. This was prompted by concerns that had been expressed to me by several neighbours regarding the increased use of the estate roads for driving instruction following the Trowbridge closure.

Within days I received a reply from Mr Hames to the effect that he had written to Mike Penning MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, on this matter and that he would write to me again when he received a reply. He received that reply from the Minister on September 15, and has since sent me a copy as promised. I was as dismayed as Gary Fossey, the driving instructor leading the campaign against the closures, at the news from the Department of Transport is that no commitment to undertake a review has been made. Mr Hames has also spoken to another minister in the department, Norman Baker MP, and has been told that they would be looking at ‘certain arrangements’ for the driving test which could perhaps enable tests to be taken in locations other than those with driving test centres. If so, this could improve the situation for Monkton Park residents and learner drivers alike.

Lyn André, Matford Hill, Monkton Park, Chippenham.