A VETERAN motorbike instructor may give up his business because EU rules, bureaucratic bungling and bad weather has left budding bikers unable to take their tests in Oxfordshire.

John Wheeler, 66, from Manor Way, Kidlington, has been getting people through their motorcycle tests for more than 40 years, but said trade had collapsed because of a new Europe-wide test which landed taxpayers with a £71m bill.

In April 2009, the Government backed splitting the traditional test in two, introducing a new requirement to perform an emergency stop at 50 km per hour (31.25 mph).

Because this would break Britain’s 30mph speed limit in built-up areas, the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) spent £71m building 66 new off-road super test centres so the manoeuvre could be performed legally.

Only a fraction were completed on time, and none were built in Oxfordshire. With bikers forced to take a 60-mile round trip to take half their test, the DSA allowed the off-road element to take place in the car park of Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium. Now bad weather has left the car park so pitted and pot-holed tests have been banned from taking place there.

DSA spokesman Stephen Small said: “In the interests of safety, the DSA has decided to temporarily suspend Module 1 testing until work to repair the surface is completed.”

People taking the tests now have to travel to Swindon, Newbury or Silverstone to complete the 20 minutes of manouevres.

The DSA is responsible for fixing the asphalt surface. However, it is not known when the work will be carried out.

Mr Wheeler, from BMF Training, said: “Ever since the new test was introduced, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of people wishing to take them.

“Prior to the changes, I was putting up to 80 motorcyclists through the test each year. Now I am getting just 10 or 15. It is all because the Government decided to go along with the 50 km per hour rule to the letter.”

Mr Wheeler said that the drop in business had left him on the verge of quitting the industry.

He said: “It is getting worse year on year. I’m worried the new tests will encourage people to ride illegally, without passing the test.”

British Motorcyclists Federation representative Hugh Jaeger, from Oxford, said the Government should have built a test centre closer to Oxford. He said: “The implementation was done unrealistically and unfairly, and now we are seeing the effects.”

Road Safety Minister Mike Penning has announced plans to revert to a single, on-road motorbike test by early 2012, prioritising areas like Oxfordshire left without test centres.