HUNDREDS of young motorcyclists may have to wait until the end of the year before they can ride their bikes.

They face months of frustration because the group which runs compulsory basic training courses has stopped doing so because of a row with politicians over access to d’Hautrée School car park.Young riders are not allowed on the road unless they have completed the compulsory basic training (CBT) course.

Indeed motorcycle dealerships are not even allowed to release the machines unless they are delivered to the instructors who run the CBT courses.The Motorcycle Training Group (MTG) ended its courses – run on behalf of Driver and Vehicle Standards – at the end of 2003 and claims that it will take at least ten months before any other provider would be in a position to start running new ones.

It also says that it is receiving abusive phone calls from parents of young riders who are angry that their children are being denied the chance to learn to ride their machines.MTG has already passed the names of 64 riders waiting to take the CBT course to Driver and Vehicle Standards and estimates that many more will be waiting in the wings.The Home Affairs Committee will decide this week what steps are to be to taken to replace MTG courses.

Expressions of interest from other providers have been made to the committee, and a service level agreement is being drawn up for a tendering process to take place.MTG stopped offering the CBT courses after a dispute with Home Affairs over the use of d’Hautrée School car park on a weekday afternoon.

The Home Affairs politician who has responsibility for driving matters, Deputy Collin Egré, claimed that MTG had acted unreasonably, but the group say that the committee do not understand the situation.MTG spokesman Philip Jackson said that it took at least six months to train an instructor and estimated that the earliest any new CBT provider could be in place would be in November – ‘but probably later’.

He said that MTG needed to be able to use the school car park on one weekday in order to prevent a backlog of courses from building up.

The car park was used for courses at weekends, but there was a need for access on one weekday afternoon.D’Hautrée, he said, was the only realistic option available.

Not only was the school playground car park area big enough, but it also had a storage area where dealers could deliver bikes and scooters prior to young riders starting their courses.He said that an alternative location offered at the Western Fire Station at St Brelade was impractical as the total area was only 80 sq ft.

‘A minimum area of 190 sq ft is required to allow trainees to practise changing up and down gears and carrying out emergency braking,’ said Mr Jackson.However, Deputy Egré said that MTG had been instransigent.

‘Logistically, it would be impractial to clear the school car park as the area is used during weekdays.

MTG are letting down the people for whom they run the courses and who pay their course fees,’ said the Deputy.