Several driving schools in Alès and around are protesting against the installation, authorized by the town hall, of forty caravans on the Bruèges examination site, canceling the passages of several driving licenses overnight.
“In fact, the town hall does not care about the young people of Alès who need to pass the license.” This Tuesday, March 14, Véronique Fernandez, from the Elit driving school, in Saint-Christol-lez-Alès, does not hide her anger. The day before, on the morning of Monday March 13, she and the other driving schools in the Alesian basin discovered, with surprise, that the track at the Bruèges examination center was occupied by forty caravans.
An installation authorized by the town hall and the Agglo d’Alès. Initially, the community planned to settle in Capras, in Méjannes-Lès-Alès. But the place, this week, is occupied by the installation of the stands of Alespo, which opens this weekend at the exhibition center.
“No one has been warned”
The change of installation of the community took place on Sunday March 12, without having informed the driving schools beforehand. “The concern is not at all the occupation of the land by the caravans”, assures Benjamin Panis, delegate of the National Union of Independent Drivers (UNIC). “The concern is that no one has been notified. The town hall has presented us with a fait accompli.”
Consequence: no examination is possible until next Sunday, the date on which the community plans to leave the premises. This concerns at least 50 candidates for the motorcycle and heavy goods vehicle license exam. A situation that the trade unionist says he has traced back to several parliamentarians, including Senator LR Laurent Burgoa, and the RN deputy of the 4e constituency, Pierre Meurin.
A partly contested fallback solution
But the lack of confidence is apparent, because it is not the first time that the ground of Bruèges is used by the town hall as a reception area. “We had even worked for a long time and had an agreement signed so that the land could only be used for the examination of the permit”, recalls Véronique Fernandez. “But there, we realized that it’s useless. The town hall has started again. It does not assume its responsibility to find them another land”.
In an emergency, the DDTM has found arrangements to postpone part of the exams until next week. The use of the private track of the Daumet driving school in Mons is also mentioned, subject to the approval of the sub-prefecture. “As far as we are concerned, we will not go there”, reacts Véronique Fernandez. “It would only show that one accepts to bend to the situation.”
