By JESSE GRAHAM
YOUNG drivers in the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges will have to travel to Mooroolbark to get a learner’s permit or driver’s licence as of the new financial year, with VicRoads pulling out of Yarra Junction, Healesville and Monbulk.
VicRoads announced on Wednesday, 4 May, that it would no longer be offering its services, including tests for learner permits and driver’s licences after 30 June, following a decision by Yarra Ranges Council.
The change will affect the Healesville, Yarra Junction and Monbulk Yarra Ranges Council community link buildings, meaning residents will have to travel to Mooroolbark to access licence testing.
Offices in Burwood East, Dandenong and Heatherton, all roughly an hour out of the Yarra Ranges, will be the closest for residents for other services.
VicRoads’ Executive Director of Registration and Licensing, Dave Shelton, said the decision also reflected an “increase in customers using smart phone and tablet devices” to access the body’s services.
“While services such as learner permit tests, licence/registration changeovers and drive tests would no longer be offered locally, appointments for these services at VicRoads’ licence testing centre in Mooroolbark will be increased to cover the volume currently being provided,” Mr Shelton said.
He said that residents should make use of VicRoads’ online services, and that vehicle inspections, which were not offered in the Yarra Ranges, would be available at the other offices.
Yarra Ranges Director of Corporate Services, Troy Edwards, said it was “no longer economically viable” for council to host VicRoads in its offices.
He said community links would provide information for residents after 30 June about where the nearest VicRoads services were located.
More as it comes.
