AN East Lancashire MP has branded new eyesight tests for lorry and bus drivers as "an absurdity."

Pendle's Gordon Prentice has received a large number of letters from worried professional drivers who fear the new European Union inspired tests could mean they lose their PSV and HGV licences and their jobs.

He wrote to Transport Minister Steven Norris about the problem.

But Mr Norris said the overwhelming majority of drivers will cruise through the test.

And he said that even those who failed would be able to keep their licences until they expired.

Mr Prentice said: "I was very concerned indeed that people could be forced to give up their job and their livelihood because of these new regulations.

"I am still at a loss to know why it is necessary to test uncorrected vision.

"Surely the important thing is to test eyesight with spectacles or contact lenses - that is, after the eyesight defects have been corrected.

"The minister was unable to tell me how many accidents had occurred as a result of a driver having his or her glasses knocked off while driving.

"The chances of that happening must be pretty remote."

The big fear is that people who drive perfectly satisfactorily with contact lenses or glasses could lose their licences because of the new tests which check what their vision is like without their glasses.

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