If you drive in Aberdeen, you’ll know the street knowledge test has been one of the most divisive subjects in the trade for years. Now the city has had its say — and the result is just about as close as it gets.
Aberdeen City Council ran a major public consultation on whether the traditional test should stay, and roughly 1,800 people took part. When the numbers came back, 45.5% wanted to keep the test, while 43.1% wanted it scrapped altogether. That’s a gap of barely two percentage points, which tells you just how torn opinion is.
The alternatives barely registered. The idea of bringing in a modified test pulled in around 4%, and scrapping the test only for private hire drivers managed 7.4%. In other words, most people who responded landed firmly in one of the two camps — keep it as it is, or bin it entirely.
The test has long been blamed for the city’s driver shortage, with critics arguing it’s too tough a barrier for newcomers and a factor behind the long queues at ranks on busy nights. Supporters, including established drivers and the city’s biggest operators, say it protects standards and that scrapping it would devalue years of hard graft put in by those who passed.
Uber, which already operates in Aberdeen, has pushed for the test to go, arguing that app-based drivers rely on sat-nav rather than memorising every street. With the vote so tight, the final call now rests with councillors, who are weighing up the consultation results before deciding what happens next.
It’s a decision that could reshape how easy — or how hard — it is to get into the trade in the Granite City for years to come.
If you’re juggling licensing requirements, renewals and certificates across different councils, the Licence and Certificate Tracker over at DriverMatty.com is built to help drivers keep on top of exactly this sort of thing.
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