Learner drivers making lives hell for people in Welsh village
Residents of a small village named the UK's "easiest place" to get a driving licence claim their roads have become a "nightmare" due to learner drivers.
Floods of learners from London and the north of England are swarming the quiet streets of Miskin, in Rhondda[1] Cynon Taf, after word spread online of its straight-forward route compared with other cities. Test bosses insist the pass rate at Llantrisant[2] Test Centre is only slightly above the national average - and it's not the "easiest" place - but locals claim bad driving from learners is turning the Valleys village into a motorist's "hell". Advertisement
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One local, who asked not to be named, said: "It's bringing danger onto the roads.
They come from all over - London and Manchester - because it's the easiest place.
"We live in a really small village and there are hundreds and hundreds coming practising. You can see around our village that they're driving incredibly slow." For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter[3] here
Dudley Newbery, a 68-year-old TV chef who runs the village's only pub The Miskin Arms, said: "People have been coming from England for tests since they moved the tests here. Advertisement
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"The roads have got a lot worse since.
It's hell for people living here.
"The village is like an obstacle course. It needs to be monitored in some way."
Candidates from afar are also said to be enticed by a high number of available test slots amid huge demand in other parts of the UK.
Llantrisant Test Centre, named after the bigger town nearby but located closer to Miskin, started issuing driving licences in 2018 after it was initially used just for lorry exams.
Selwyn Davies, 82, lives along the test route on School[4] Road.
Man with glasses
The retired engineer says learners stop across the road from his house to practise parallel parking, slowing traffic down and sparking dangerous driving from frustrated motorists. Advertisement
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He said: "I would suggest there are about 20 lessons a day who call in here to do their reversing.
It's difficult when we try to get in and out because it takes some time.
"You must be fair to the people that are doing tests but there's an inordinate amount of traffic that uses this road now.
"Because of the congestion on the A48, everyone cuts down this way to get to the Miskin Interchange roundabout.
"They race down here ignoring the speed limits on the wrong side of the road because the learners are there."
Femi Genebi, a student at Cardiff[5] University, had travelled from the Welsh capital to Miskin to practise for his test in a week's time. Advertisement Advertisement
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Femi said: "I came here because I found out online that it was one of the easiest centres. It's quite straight-forward here."
But the 21-year-old said he had not noticed bad driving along the route.
It is known as one of the easiest test routes
Matthew Reid, a tattoo artist and former driving instructor, said he had seen an "unusual" number of learners on the village's roads since moving there six months ago.
The 30-year-old said: "I used to be a driving instructor in North Wales[6].
"That was near Chester - it's a city and there's loads of them (learners) - but here there's an equal amount in a little, tiny town.
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"When we go to the petrol station, it's jammed with learners all the time."
However, he said the standard of driving "isn't terrible" in the area.
At the test centre, located next to the busy A84 test centre, one woman explained her teenage son had travelled from Bristol to sit his test there because it was "impossible" to find a slot in their home city.
Instructor Jimmy Jones did not agree that Llantrisant was the "easiest place" to get a licence but speculated that it might be the easiest to book a test slot.
He added that lots of people from the north of England were known to take tests there. Advertisement Advertisement
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A spokesman for Rhondda Cynon Taf[7] County Borough Council said the local authority had received "no specific complaints" about the test centre.
And a spokesman for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency said the number of tests sat at the centre had been stable.
He said: "DVSA has operated car driving tests from Llantrisant since 2018.
Average test volumes at the site have not risen since then."
References
- ^ Rhondda (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Llantrisant (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ sign up to our daily newsletter (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ School (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Cardiff (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Wales (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Rhondda Cynon Taf (www.walesonline.co.uk)