LEARNER drivers in Pendle will have to travel miles to take the new theory tests because the Driving Standards Agency calculates distances as the crow flies, not by road miles.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice is backing them, pledging to raise the issue with Ministers to get the rules changed.

The 'infuriated'' MP said that, under the new arrangements, people living in Pendle would have to travel as far afield as Bolton, Preston or Bradford to take their written test on the HIghway Code.

Last month he pressed the agency to re-think.

He said: "People living in West Craven have been assured they would be able to do their theory test at a place within a 20-mile radius. "Yet the nearest designated towns are Preston (24 miles), Bradford (28) or Bolton (30).

"Now I am told the distances are to be calculated as the crow flies, not by road.''

Mr Prentice said it was an absurd ruling, adding: "My constituents are not going to ruffle their feathers and fly to the test centres.

"The technology already exists to calculate the distance between one address in the UK and another.''

A letter from the agency confirms that distances are measured "as the crow flies.'

It adds: "In the absence of a robust case demonstrating that the circumstances of Pendle are special in relation to other districts of equivalent population density, the view remains that the plans for theory test centres in the area reflect a realistic balance between costs, travelling distances and the frequency with which tests will be available.''

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