Driving testing grounds closes doors to learners

According to metro’s spokesperson, Sam Modiba, a notice was recently placed on the notice board at the licensing department to inform the public and driving schools about the closing of the yard.

Modiba says this was a decision taken at a national level by the Minister of Transport to stop the practice of allowing private people to use the testing grounds for training.

“The metro received a letter from the Department of Transport on March 11, stating that the municipality must close its doors for both public and driving schools with immediate effect.”

There is a sign at the testing ground facility which says: “Test track is for official use only. Right of admission reserved. This is a tow away area.”

Frustrated driving schools owners and members of the community have expressed their anger.

They claim that the metro did not notify them about the changes.

However, Modiba says this matter was fully discussed with the interested parties.

“A meeting was held, unfortunately, few people including the driving school owners attended,” says Modiba.

One of the driving school owners says they don’t even know where to train their customers, because they don’t have an alternative venue.

“This has deeply affected our customers, as it puts the lives of other road users in danger as we don’t have any choice but to train learners on the roads,” she says.

Modiba says the refusal of the testing grounds is a national directive.

“We simply complied with the instruction from Province regarding the council facility. We cannot dictate to driving schools as to how or where else they should run their business.”

Although Modiba did not provide reasons for the testing grounds being closed for use, it was reported in other media that the main reason was that the learners got used to training grounds, which is advantageous when doing the test.

And this can render the testing ineffective.