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Two-month wait for test
Page 13
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• A Bedfordshire HGV training school has slammed the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) over an examiner shortage at the Leighton Buzzard test centre, which has led to a two-month wait for HGV tests.
Jim Brady, proprietor of Biggleswade-based Al HGV Driving School claims that he has been forced to take three trucks off the road because the earliest available test date is 12 June: "It's terrible. We have a chronic driver shortage but I can't complete anyone's training because there are no examiners. If the DSA can't cope now, what will happen in September when the new test comes into force and there are a lot more hurdles to climb?"
John Whitbread, owner of Bletchley-based Advance Training Services agrees: "It is absolutely diabolical. If you fail a test, you are meant to be guaranteed a retest within three weeks, but the first possible date that I have been given for someone who failed on 10 April is 29 May.
"We have also had a major problem with tests being cancelled; one was cancelled last week just an hour before it was due to begin. The candidate had already done his two-hour pretest lesson. It [the DSA) would have known earlier that the examiner was off sick but left it to the last possible moment to cancel the test."
Following pressure from CM, the DSA has agreed to reinstate
Saturday testing at Leighton Buzzard.
'We are also looking to install our own accommodaton on-site, SG that we can increase examiner capacity by 50%. Our property managing agents are currently looking at the site," adds DSA spokeswoman, Chris Wells.