LEARNER motorcyclists have been saved from a 40-mile detour on their way to work after the reversal of a decision to ban them from two key bridges.
Learners commuting from Fife to Edinburgh will not be allowed to use a new Firth of Forth crossing because it is to be given motorway status.
Many also faced a ban from the existing Forth Road Bridge under plans to make it a ‘dedicated public transport corridor’ closed to motorcycles over 50cc.
It meant learners on machines between 50 and 125cc would not be able to use either bridge and faced a 23-mile detour west to Kincardine.
But now Scotland’s Transport Minister Derek Mackay has agreed that learners of machines up to 125cc will be able to continue using the Forth Road Bridge after the Queensferry Crossing opens in 2016.
In a letter to the British Motorcyclists Federation's Graeme Hay, Mackay said: ‘I have considered the issue further and I am pleased to inform you that we are now minded to include provision for learner motorcycles up to 125cc to continue to cross the Firth of Forth using the Forth Road Bridge once the Queensferry Crossing opens to traffic at the end of 2016.’
It comes after Hay wrote to Mackay saying the situation could be detrimental to young people from Fife seeking education or work in Edinburgh.
Hay said: ‘I am delighted to receive this wonderful news and I know that this will come as a great relief to many of our members who live and work in and around this most spectacular firth.’
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