Croydon has surely landed yet another (dubious) “first”: the world’s only Hilton Hotel with a driver testing centre attached.
Croydon fails its test: local and national bodies have failed to come up with an obvious solution in Waddon
There’s been a noticeable increase in learner driver traffic in and around the Waddon estate lately, after the government agency moved its driving test centre from Mitcham to the Croydon Hilton, off the Purley Way.
The long-standing centre at Mitcham has become the latest piece of public infrastructure to fall foul of reduced (or non-existent) public maintenance budgets and RAAC – Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, the cheap construction material used for so many public buildings in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, who oversee driving tests, issued a statement during the summer that said: “Due to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) at Mitcham Driving Test Centre, the site will partially close on Monday 5 August 2024.
“Mod 2 testing will move to a temporary location. Mod 1 testing will continue from the current location.
“DVSA apologise for the inconvenience this may cause for some customers.”
The announcement gave the Hilton Hotel, 101 Waddon Way, as the site for its “Mod 2” testing. The DVSA has set up a waiting area in the hotel reception, and instructors, test examiners and nervous driving test pupils are able to use the hotel’s toilet facilities. Which must be great for hotel guests spending upwards of £128 per night…
“Please let your pupils know,” the agency asked driving instructors.
“DVSA have contacted candidates affected by this relocation. However, if you have booked a test on behalf of your pupil, please let them know about these changes.
“DVSA apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Now, it is just the residents and road users in and around the often heavily parked, narrow roads of the Waddon estate who are left to deal with the inconvenience.
According to one resident having the deal with the impact of all this additional driving test traffic: “The evidence is that instructors are not using the Hilton Hotel car park or facilities to start the lessons, but are using Waddon Way.
Test centre: the Croydon Hilton, complete with driving instructors in the hotel lavvies
“This is a busy road and not configured for parked and waiting cars. There have already been minor accidents and challenges. The road where instructors are parking is supposedly a “no stopping between 8am to 8pm”.
“Despite multiple reports to Croydon Council’s parking team, I am not aware of any parking warden coming along to issue any fines.”
Croydon’s Hilton, close to the site of the world’s first international airport, but built long after the last passenger flight departed from Croydon, is often the preferred overnight stop for Premier League football teams before a match at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace.
The football clubs usually arrive using several large, luxury coaches, and have the hotel management exclude cars from parking in the hotel car park. Extra traffic often shows up, as fans seeking selfies and autographs from star players try to find somewhere nearby to park their cars.
So now, when there’s a Premier League match coming up, driving instructors are unable to use the test centre’s nominated parking centre on major matches, while the already choked local roads have even more vehicles to cope with.
With an ambulance station along Waddon Way too, from where vehicles are often on call for emergencies, the clogged traffic could cause delays that are the difference between life and death.
Much of the time, driving instructors are parking outside the entrance to the Thames Water Treatment plant, where heavy goods vehicles are coming and going.
And yet on the site right next door to the Hilton is a possible solution to the traffic misery for Waddon residents: the long disused garden centre, with its large, purpose-built car park, which is standing empty waiting for developers to get planning permission for a residential scheme.
“The various national and council bodies have not aligned to address the challenges of this office building crisis,” the exasperated and long-suffering Waddon resident told Inside Croydon.
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