A councillor is asking the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to consider an alternative site in Keighley after the town’s driving test centre closes later this month.

Twenty-five Keighley driving instructors held a meeting last Thursday, when two DSA officials briefed them about the town’s Devonshire Street test centre closure on November 19 and the facility’s temporary move to Skipton.

Keighley driving instructors were up in arms following the closure announcement last month and they wanted clarification about a proposed move to the heavy goods vehicle testing site at Steeton.

“They told us this is a long way on in the planning process and said a driving test centre at Steeton wouldn’t be opening until the next financial year,” said James McGrath, chairman of the Keighley and District Driving Instructors Association.

“If it would open in January or February I could swallow that but it could quite easily be April or a lot longer before anything happens.”

Mr McGrath was disappointed at how little information the DSA officials divulged.

“They listened to us and our problems but they side-tracked answers,” he said. “We felt there was ‘no meat on the bones’ in what they were telling us.”

District councillor Abid Hussain, who represents Keighley Central Ward, also attended the meeting and stated his case for renting another building in Keighley to use as a temporary test centre.

“I asked the DSA to rent us another local property once we lose this test centre in Keighley,” said Cllr Hussain. “I’ll also ask Bradford Council’s asset management section if it has a building we could use on a short-term lease.

“The DSA officials said they’ve got a bit of funding for the Steeton site but we’ll have to wait until next year before they get any more. A lot of people will have to suffer for six or seven months and it might even be next Christmas. They wouldn’t give us a timescale.

“I sympathise with the driving instructors and learners. This is a great loss for the Keighley community.”