Where is Chadderton, the DVSA replacement to Cardington for CBT and DAS Assessments for Motorcycle Instructors

Where is Chadderton

The DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agent) Assessment location for Motorcycle Instructors to attend their 2 day CBT Assessment and the half day DAS Assessment is located at Chadderton, near Manchester. 

So where is Chadderton, that has been used as the replacement location after Cardington in Bedford was closed down. It is situated northeast of Manchester in Oldham just off the M60 motorway.

The address for the recent DVSA assessment location is outlined below:

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Training HQ

9 Broadgate

Chadderton

Oldham 

OL9 9XA

Cardington was the Training and Assessment HQ for the DVSA for many years. It had a really poor reputation as being a place where you would fail your assessment. Cardington was sold off and around the time Covid descended on us and was closed completely, this was just a coincidence. 

However, the DVSA didn’t have a site cleared ready for Instructors to attend post lockdown. It took quite a while to open up again after the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and the backlog for trainers to attend still remains (at the time of writing).

Why is there such a backlog?

Post lockdown, many training schools had a very heavy workload to accommodate learner riders who wanted to stay off public transport. After being cooped up for months on end, it was hardly surprising that motorcycle licence acquisition was going to be high as many new riders wanted their licence and a bit of freedom.

Having a motorbike certainly gives people the excitement and thrill that they were looking for. Hence the upturn in demand since lockdown has finished and life starts to get back to normal.

The reason Chadderton has a waiting list is because of the volume of Instructors who are putting their name down to attend.

The problem is, not many are properly prepared and go prematurely and too soon before they have enough skills to attend. It’s almost as if they use the first attempt to see how it’s done and what’s it like to attend, with the knowledge that they will fail. This is a waste of time for everyone, it needs to stop to allow those who are ready to attend and move on in the industry.

The pass rate at the DVSA Assessment is appalling, it is below 50% (probably nearer to 40%). This is because trainers go under prepared and not ready to demonstrate their skills to a fully qualified examiner who knows exactly what should be presented to them during the 2 day assessment.

There are many reasons want to be instructors attend prematurely, but one of them is not being trained correctly from the start of a new instructor’s training journey. Just because it is a hobby, does not mean it is going to be an easy job.

Being given a training certificate before trainers are ready to deliver is still a huge problem. This is because training schools put the need of servicing demand before properly training a new trainer. The weakest trainers, training the weakest students is always going to be difficult for both parties. It is high risk for the student and the instructor, especially when a new trainer is given three or four students to train from scratch.

Where is Chadderton in comparison to Cardington

Chadderton is near Manchester, which is more central in the country for motorcycle instructors to travel to. Cardington is near Bedford and was a long way to travel for instructors who were travelling from north of England and Scotland.

The recent location allows easier travel for most of the country and with a role out of further training establishments, it will be even easier for instructors to travel locally.

This has an impact on delivery as there are not many DVSA Enforcement Officers to deal with demand.

Resources available for Instructors:

Lesson Plans – Planning your lesson journey

Training Diagrams – A picture paints a thousand words

Methods of Instruction – How to be an instructor

Full Package – Everything you need