testing location validity

app/controllers/locations_controller.rb

@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ class LocationsController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def create
-    @location = Location.new(location_params)
+    @location = if Date.valid_date?(location_params["startdate(3i)"].to_i, location_params["startdate(2i)"].to_i, location_params["startdate(1i)"].to_i)
+                  Location.new(location_params.except("startdate(3i)", "startdate(2i)", "startdate(1i)"))
+                else
+                  Location.new(location_params) end
 
     if @location.save
       location_params[:add_another_location] == "Yes" ? redirect_to(new_location_path(id: @scheme.id)) : redirect_to(scheme_check_answers_path(scheme_id: @scheme.id))

app/models/location.rb

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 class Location < ApplicationRecord
-  validate :validate_postcode
+  validate :validate_postcode, :validate_startdate
   validates :units, :type_of_unit, presence: true
   belongs_to :scheme
 
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ private
 
   PIO = PostcodeService.new
 
+  def validate_startdate
+    unless startdate.nil? || (startdate.is_a?(ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone) && !startdate.year.zero?)
+      error_message = I18n.t("validations.date.invalid_date")
+      errors.add :startdate, error_message
+    end
+  end
+
   def validate_postcode
     if postcode.nil? || !postcode&.match(POSTCODE_REGEXP)
       error_message = I18n.t("validations.postcode")