KennyP
old hand
Reged: 16/11/2006
Posts: 786
Loc: Croydon via Brussels and Glasg...
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Forumites. In the words of Elliot Ness (OK, in 'The Untouchables")..."let's do some good".
The new test centre fiasco continues and the goverment isn't making it easy for new riders, riding schools or, by implication, the rest of the UK bike industry.
Here's a long letter/explanation which explains the situation. To cut to the chase, if you can be arsed sending the MP responsible a polite email asking for a re-think, that would be like us, collectively, doing something about it rather than our usual position of just complaining about 'The Man.'
Knocking the current government is distressingly easy these days and the way it has introduced a new bike test apparently before it thought through the implications of what it had rubber-stamped are just plain depressing. And for once the motorbike ‘community’ seems have found a united voice to explain its concerns to the government minister responsible – transport under-secretary Jim Fitzpatrick.
The new test, part of a European-wide common test strategy, was due to be introduced last autumn. However, there were too few new test centres able to train and process tests for the change to be implemented at the time.
Well, fast forward to the present day and there are still not enough new test centres. Several bike groups banded together to write to Mr Fitzpatrick to warn that, despite a six-month delay to find more test sites, there were still not enough sites to meet demand, and trainers have found themselves unable to book the tests that their trainees need.
The letter to Fitzpatrick said, “Although the delay period is nearly at an end, there has been no significant improvement in the situation with regard to the promised 66 full time multi-purpose test centres (MPTC). Only 44 will be in operation when the new test goes ‘live’ at the end of April – just five more than in September, 2008.
Even with 66 MPTCs, there will still be an 80 per cent reduction in the number of available test sites, leaving candidates in many parts of the country virtually unable to secure a motorcycle test. More importantly, the motorcycle industry fears that longer journeys to fewer test centres will bring significant road safety risks. All good advice to novice riders tells them not to undertake long journeys in heavy traffic soon after taking their test, but to build up slowly as they gain experience. Some test candidates could face a journey of 100 miles or more in each direction, coupled with the stress of taking a test. There is a real risk that riders will opt out of testing and become “permanent learners,” a huge set-back to motorcycle safety.
The BMF’s government relations executive Chris Hodder said: “This is no way to introduce a new test regime. There are insufficient centres and major problems over the booking process, but more importantly, inexperienced learner motorcyclists are being forced to travel excessive distances to take a test, and bizarrely, even if they fail, will be forced to ride a long distance home. It’s time for the government to bite the bullet and delay the test’s introduction.”
Why not email Jim Fitzpatrick (jim.fitzpatrick@dft.gsi.gov.uk) and suggest the same thing? We've got nothing to lose!
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kenny_pryde@ipcmedia.com
"There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the truth." Robert Evans.
Waste more time here http://uk.youtube.com/SuperBikeMag
or here
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chappers
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/12/2006
Posts: 6701
Loc: Mind your own business
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To use a crap cliche from forums the world over. email sent.
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Say what you think and think what you say.
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makka
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 13/05/2007
Posts: 2866
Loc: Jungle, Near Byron Bay, Austra...
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e-mail sent
Here is a copy to cheat off if you are lazy.
Change the words though.
Quote:
Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick,
I am writing to you concerning your governments policy in regard to the new motorcycle test that is being introduced.
It is very laudable that the government is so concerned about our safety as to make sure new riders are even better trained that they have been in the past.
However there really need to be enough test centers available when the new test "goes live".
It is certainly dangerous to expect these new riders to ride hundreds of miles to the few centers that are available now (44 out of the proposed minimum of 66) and as they will already be nervous about the test will be more tense and vulnerable on the roads during these journeys.
Please consider putting more energy into getting an adequate number of test centers up and running before introducing the new test. Even if that means having to delay the start by a few months.
After all, it is concern for safety that has prompted this very expensive change is it not?
Two wheeled transport is not going to go away and can be a very effective way of reducing congestion and pollution in our cities if encouraged.
Yours sincerely,
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makka
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
J. Krishnamurti
Never confuse who you are with what you do.
Makka
Zeitgeist
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KennyP
old hand
Reged: 16/11/2006
Posts: 786
Loc: Croydon via Brussels and Glasg...
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Good work men. It's hard to know how many emails MPs are sent or how much notice they take of them, but at least we can be slightly more smug and have an answer to the question; 'Well, what have you done about it?'
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kenny_pryde@ipcmedia.com
"There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the truth." Robert Evans.
Waste more time here http://uk.youtube.com/SuperBikeMag
or here
http://www.twitter.com/SuperBikemag/
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Tapoutduke
member
Reged: 14/11/2006
Posts: 197
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Done! even used Makka's template. Cheers Makka!
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fastjonny
veteran
Reged: 08/11/2006
Posts: 1323
Loc: England
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Yep, it had to be done even though Mr. Fitzpatrick ain't exactly top of my list of favourite MPs (ex-fireman who was working at ODPM when FRS Regional Controls were being dreamt up). Still, only £1.4 billion wasted on that so far. A drop in the ocean compared to the bankers' bail-out.
Anyway, here's what I sent. I even got a firebike and bikesafe plug in. 
"Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick,
I have recently been made aware of the current situation regarding the proposed implementation of the new motorcycle test and current provision of Multi-Purpose Test Centres. I understand that the new test will be finally coming into force at the end of April 2009 despite the fact that only 44 of the 66 proposed MPTCs will be operational at that time.
I find this situation deeply concerning for the following reasons.
1. Learner riders will have to travel excessive distances to and from their nearest MPTC to take the test, which puts them and other road users at greater risk than would otherwise be the case due to the potential for increased stress and fatigue.
2. Learner riders may decide not to attempt the test at all, preferring to remain permanently on provisional licences due to the increased costs and distances involved and decreased availability of a suitable test date. I believe this will also have a profoundly negative effect regarding safety on our roads.
Surely it would make sense to delay implementation until all 66 MPTCs are up and running?
I write with more than a passing interest in Road Safety, and Motorcycle Road Safety in particular, as I am a serving Crew Commander in East Sussex FRS and am extremely proactive via the ESFRS Firebike scheme, working in partnership with Sussex Police to bring about a reduction in motorcyclist KSI's through promotion of Bikesafe and advanced rider training.
Yours sincerely,
Jon Baker"
www.battlebikerdropin.co.uk
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fastjonny
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thetony
member
Reged: 12/02/2009
Posts: 164
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Yeah, Email sent. I was even polite and everything.
I know a couple of instructors, one doesn't think she will stay in business very long once the system has changed. She is really negged out about it, Ibrox being the closest test center (Scotland is getting only two! WTF) will mean a full day off the road for her/the van and a bike, the inability for the system to allow bulk bookings, which would at least allow her to stick all her bikes in the van and justify a day off the road training. The costs involved on her part alone will seem ridiculous coupled with the DVLA fee and is really going to hit a learner hard, training/tests is already such an expensive business she thinks this will be a deterrant ( the governments plan all along!?)
The other is near York and is the closest riding school to the most local test center and is not very bothered...possibly rubbing his hands. It is a post code lottery as to which small businesses will survive this and, sorry to bring up the recession again, the government WILL be solely responsible for putting many instructers/training companys out of business at the hardest economical time anyway...what a kick in the pink parts when yer down anyway! It will be very interesting (obviously probably fucking depressing) to see the stats a year (or at least after a summer) on to see how devastating this has actually been to motorcycling and what a total logistical failure it inevitably turned into along the way. Email sent indeed.
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thetony
member
Reged: 12/02/2009
Posts: 164
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Nice one Jon mate. I have to add it's been a while since I talked to the Scottish instructer so hope i'm still correct about the 2 test facilities (actually I hope I'm totally wrong, it's such a farce) My point is that even 66 is still not enough to cope with practical demand...The whole idea is a lemon. 44 is just going to create UTTER pandemonium and highlight what a complete fuck up the whole concept is. Not that they will ever back down, admit they are wholely a bunch of clueless wankers and attempt a rethink.
Time for a modern day Guy Faulks I say, although such behaviour is now considered as an act of terrorism so would be unlikely to be celebrated with the bonfires and fireworks it deserves - what is the world comming to/has come to. F F S!
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KennyP
old hand
Reged: 16/11/2006
Posts: 786
Loc: Croydon via Brussels and Glasg...
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Has anyone had any response whatsoever? Anyone had an auto reply even? A note from a parliamentary secretary or whatever? I've had nowt.
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kenny_pryde@ipcmedia.com
"There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the truth." Robert Evans.
Waste more time here http://uk.youtube.com/SuperBikeMag
or here
http://www.twitter.com/SuperBikemag/
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fastjonny
veteran
Reged: 08/11/2006
Posts: 1323
Loc: England
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Nothing at all. 
Maybe he's too busy totting up his MP's expenses claim to be bothered to reply to the likes of us.
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fastjonny
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chappers
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/12/2006
Posts: 6701
Loc: Mind your own business
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They've probally all been filtered to the junk folder.
I doubt our oppinion will count till election time. maybe we should consider a recent article in SB and join the BMF or MAG.
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Say what you think and think what you say.
Edited by chappers (21/04/2009 17:00)
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chappers
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/12/2006
Posts: 6701
Loc: Mind your own business
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I've decided to put cash where gob is.
http://www.bmf.co.uk/pages/join.php
http://www.mag-uk.org/en/joinmag/a6318
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Say what you think and think what you say.
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blast
stranger
Reged: 03/04/2009
Posts: 6
Loc: haggis land
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2 test sights in scotland one in ibrox one break down on the kingston bridge means everyone gets of motorway and heads through ibrox leading to total gridlock happens all the time wheres their brains on locations eedjits
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xxrider
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 07/11/2006
Posts: 2604
Loc: Somewhere over the rainbow.......
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E-mail sent.
Reply?
Fuck all so far......
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Remember - there are people in the world who are only alive because it's illegal to shoot them.
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makka
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 13/05/2007
Posts: 2866
Loc: Jungle, Near Byron Bay, Austra...
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Nothing. But then politicians are pretty slow.
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makka
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
J. Krishnamurti
Never confuse who you are with what you do.
Makka
Zeitgeist
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chappers
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/12/2006
Posts: 6701
Loc: Mind your own business
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Quote:
Nothing. But then politicians are pretty slow.
Nope they are C**ts.
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Say what you think and think what you say.
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Brigadoon
old hand
Reged: 24/09/2008
Posts: 932
Loc: Down and to the right a bit...
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Quote:
Nope they are C**ts.
Nope, C**ts have a purpose...
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KwH
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1896
Loc: Carmarthen, Dyfed
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Good call, Kenny. Email sent. The two local instructors here in Carmarthen are seriously talking about shutting up shop, and the one in Haverford West that I know is completely fcuked. Why? There was supposed to be an MPTC thingy in Haverford West, but that has been kiboshed by the planners, so even from here, riders from or trained in Carmarthen will need to ride about 35 miles to get to the Swansea MPTC, and given the roads (and the riders/bikes), that's an hour on a very good day. Now consider a novice rider from Aberaeron who wants to take their test, and faces a two and a half hour ride over very challenging roads to get to the MPTC in Swansea. And then another 2 and a half hour ride home again, pass or fail, assuming they don't crash during the swerve test anyway...
Or they could just say 'Bollocks', buy a bike and ride it illegally without any training at all, and run away if the rare old bill do try to apprehend them, on the principle that they are extremely unlikely to get caught and the all the local training companies went bust when the new test came in anyway... yeah, that'll make things much safer all round!
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Ken Haylock
http://www.cix.co.uk/~kwh
"Ride what you like, how you like, as often as you like; but always take responsibilty for your actions." - Anonymous Zen Guru
"Obviously all I'll care about is if it's good for wheelies (i.e. fluffs up my meagre skills), and what free gift they give on the launch." - Anonymous Moto-Journalism Guru
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chappers
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/12/2006
Posts: 6701
Loc: Mind your own business
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Quote:
Quote:
Nope they are C**ts.
Nope, C**ts have a purpose...
Yeah great aren't they. But that's far too corse a word to describe such a wonderful thing.
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Say what you think and think what you say.
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FastBikerBoy
veteran
Reged: 08/11/2006
Posts: 1479
Loc: Norfolk, UK - Police State
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Never mind the availability of test centres, the firm who are training my missus have sent 9 instructors (including the boss) to do the course inc. a mock test and only one of them passed, not the boss either.
If fucking instructors can't pass it what chance have learners got. The tests have apparently been suspended for 2 weeks while they try and sort the mess out. I think there's an agenda going on to keep bikers off the road.
I know this'll sound like sour grapes but the wife has failed 2 tests in the last 6 weeks. The first she had 4 minors but done 33 in a 30 so failed. The second 12 minors but didn't take roundabouts fast enough. On the new test there's a minimum speed of 25 mph for turning left or straight over and 15 mph for turning right. The examiner applied that to her last (old style) test so she failed. It's being reviewed at the moment at the request of her instructor. His ppoint being how the fuck can they fail someone on something that even he didn't know was a failure point. She won't get the decision reversed but may get a free test out of it.
She's giving the new system a go but is going to give up if she doesn't get through this time, can't say I blame her. The training co she's with say their pass rate has dropped from around 85% to less than 25 in the last 2 months. They can't make it out.
Me, I think it's just another cynical attempt to keep bikes off the road.
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FBB
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