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Kevin Rooney, the man in charge of VOSA's move to outsource vehicle test sites, says the agency has learnt a lesson from the furore surrounding the botched closure of its Steeton, West Yorkshire test station. Rooney, the agency's customer director, admits that VOSA should have ensured replacements were in place before announcing Steeton's closure (MT 21 May), but insists that the policy driving the decision is still the right one.

He adds: "We made these decisions for all the right reasons, but going forward we will do things differently, with more involvement from the industry." Steeton will now only close when there is a reasonable replacement service available, he says. "There's no point walking away in three or six months if the outstanding issues remain unsolved," he stresses.

VOSA is currently in discussions with four interested parties to provide Authorised Testing Facilities (ATFs) in the Steeton area, he says, and is confident that at least two of them will go ahead. Rooney explains that the overriding problem surrounding test sites is over-capacity: "We have a lot more capacity then we need - we have 180 test lanes and about 110 lanes-worth  of testing [per year]."

He estimates that the plan to shift 85% of tests to ATFs will save the agency around £50m, as it won't need to spend money on refurbishing existing sites. To date, one test station at Bredbury, Cheshire, has already closed and another at Parr, Cornwall, will follow next month. However, Rooney reveals that the Parr operation has been taken over by Drive-line GB, which will re-open it, initially as a Designated Premises, on 29 June.

One more test station will shut this year, with a number of sites shortlisted. However, Rooney anticipates that it is "unlikely to cause the ripples we have had at Steeton". Any further closures will only happen when the test stations have been made 'redundant' through the creation of ATFs. "I can't see any more [test stations] closing for 12-18 months," he adds. VOSA will keep a "safety net" of sites in-house, but says the exact number will be determined by the wider industry.