Driving instructors caused gridlock in Gravesend when they took part in a protest to save the town's test centre from closure.

Tests at the Pelham Road site are set to stop in February after the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) decided last month not to renew the lease on the building.

This means learner drivers will now have to travel 10 miles to Gillingham to take a test or Erith which is 11 miles away.

More than 80 cars, all marked with learner signs, flooded town centre streets at 11am on Saturday after the Gravesham Association of Driving Instructors arranged the protest.

Vice-chairman Dave Bolton, 56, said: “We haven’t set out to irritate people or block the streets but just to highlight the unfair situation that we face."

For the full story see this week's Gravesend Messenger, out Thursday.