New location for Reading driving test centre identified

It comes as the government has announced it will recruit more driving examiners across Berkshire amid county-wide delays and backlogs.

The existing centre in Katesgrove, Reading, will be demolished and replaced with 16 flats, despite Reading Borough Council originally refusing the plans.

Developers Maxima Homes won permission after taking it to appeal with a government inspectorate, and it will close in the spring next year.

At a Westminster Hall debate yesterday (Wednesday, October 16), Lilian Greenwood, under-secretary of the state for transport said: “The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is aware that the landlord of the current driving test centre in Reading has been granted planning permission to redevelop the site.

“The DVSA has identified a new location. It is in the early stages of negotiations. But it will confirm the new location as soon as it is able.”

The agency has also driven to recruit 250 more driving test examiners this year and aims to recruit and train another 200 in areas ‘where demand is the highest’.

The junior minister said this would increase the number of examiners by 20 per cent.

Currently, there are test centres in Slough, Reading and Newbury in Berkshire, as well as Farnborough in Hampshire.

Under the government’s recruitment drive, there would be four new examiners in Slough and five for Reading by the end of next year.

It comes as Bracknell’s MP Peter Swallow warned that residents were travelling as far as the Isle of Wight, Wales and Aberdeen – 500 miles away – for tests amid a chronic shortage in Berkshire.

Peter Swallow speaking on the driving test crisis at Westminster Hall yesterday (Image: Parliament Live)The Labour member, who ran the debate, said that new learners in Bracknell must wait on average more than five months for their test.

Labour MP for Reading Central Matt Rodda said that the pending closure of Reading’s test centre in the spring 2025 was ‘causing delays and a great deal of uncertainty for local residents'.

The DVSA has begun to conduct tests outside of regular hours, at weekends and on public holidays to address the backlog.

It is also buying back annual leave from driving examiners.

The agency has also changed its booking service terms and conditions since January 2023 to prevent third-party platforms selling test slots for profit.

In his closing remarks the Bracknell MP urged the minister to consider opening a test centre in Bracknell, claiming that it would be ‘even better than having more driving examiners’.