Learners in four-month wait for driving test: DVLA 'struggling to cope' with recent budget cuts
- Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency said more people were taking tests
- It blamed the lengthy waits on economic upturn and examiners retiring
- Learners in Milton Keynes, Norwich and Basingstoke face 18-week wait
Learner drivers are facing a wait of more than four months to take their tests because of a rush of applicants who couldn’t afford lessons during the credit-crunch years.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Government body responsible for managing driving tests, is also struggling to cope with the impact of recent budget cuts, according to the Automobile Association.
‘We are seeing lots of posts on social media from frustrated pupils who want to get on with their working lives and want to experience the freedom of the road, but are being held back by the DVSA’s failure to cope with demand,’ an AA spokesman said. ‘Our concern is the DVSA have been caught out by the arguably predictable sudden surge in pupil numbers.’
Delays: The DVLA is struggling to cope after budget cuts with learners waiting up to four months to take their test
Learners waiting to take tests in Milton Keynes, King’s Lynn, Norwich, Aylesbury and Basingstoke face an even longer wait – with test centres in these towns unable to provide an available date for 18 weeks.
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Derek Wormald, chairman of the Milton Keynes Approved Driving Instructors Association, said the waiting times were ‘unprecedented’. He said: ‘I’ve got pupils who are trying to pass a test and they can’t even get a date. When you start going past a quarter-of-a-year wait, it becomes fairly crazy.’
Instructor Andy Maher, who runs a driving school in Basingstoke, added: ‘I was asked to book a test for a customer and there were no dates being offered at all.
‘Also, the centre has had only one examiner working on some days rather than the four examiners that the centre has capacity for.’
Long wait: Learners are having to wait up to 18 weeks in some places to take their driving test
The DVSA admits there is an increase in waiting times for tests, explaining this is due to more people taking driving lessons now the economy has recovered.
Official figures show that in 2012 the number of provisional licence applications stood at 813,092. Last year it rose to 938,765.
The agency said the delays had been exacerbated by a rise in the number of examiners retiring.
But Mr Wormald said: ‘I’m sure a few people have retired, but in all fairness that’s nothing new.’
DVSA head of operations Phil Lloyd said last night: ‘We are currently in the process of recruiting more examiners.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207436/Learners-four-month-wait-driving-test-DVLA-struggling-cope-recent-budget-cuts.html#ixzz3je5LbBIW
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