Tougher tests see fees soar
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by Lee Kimber • Potential lorry drivers face paying up to £200 more for their driving tests because there are insufficient examiners to cope with current demand.
With tougher driving tests due on 1 July, a rush has started to beat the deadline.
Driver training schools say some test candidates will face harder, more expensive tests because booking times have already doubled. Those that miss it face paying £64 for a separate rigid test, around £18 for a written test and over £100 for a day's extra training before they take the artic test.
"The Driving Standards Agency haven't forecast for this and haven't scheduled examiners for it," says Leanne Samuels of Sheffield-based 1.2.3. Training. "We're inundated with people."
Both 1.2.3. and Thurrock-based Roadtrain say test dates are booked a month further ahead than usual—an ominous sign for new drivers who have yet to book.
"If it's like this now," asks Roadtrain spokeswoman Vicki Brodie, "what's it going to be like when we're tight on that deadline?"
The DSA this week says its figures show delays only for Leighton Buzzard and Harlscott, where there are ten-week queues. But a spokeswoman admits that its central figures may not reflect the true picture because they date from early February.
"If it comes to long waiting times, we'll put in extra examiners," she says. "But it's not come to that at the moment."
But Brodie says the situation is likely to deteriorate as training centres close to new candidates for a week in June to make sure that trainees who fail their test get a chance to retake before the rules change.