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Licences delay cuts down pa
DELAYS at Swansea's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre have cost several lorry and bus drivers their wages when they could not drive without car licences to back their hgv or psv licences.
Now Swansea has said that drivers should allow at least six weeks, to be sure of having the ordinary licence to back the heavy vehicle licence.
A spokesman for the centre told CM that London Transport displayed notices in all its garages telling drivers to allow six weeks and said that this is what all drivers should do.
"We haven't stopped these drivers," said the spokesman, "they haven't done what the rules laid down by their employers said they must do."
And it is proving an expensive business to be without a licence, as United bus driver Brian Noble found out when he sent his application in three weeks before the expiry of his old car licence.
A United spokesman told CM "He was laid off for two weeks — we couldn't find him another job at the depot so we had no choice."
But the lay-off cost Mr Noble ELIO a week in lost wages and he was not entitled to any unemployment benefit.
The Swansea spokesman admitted: "We do make mistakes," but he said that 99.99 per cent of the applications were processed in three weeks and he appealed to drivers to read the application form and licence.
He pointed out that three operations were involved in the application for a licence — and two of those involved delivery by the Post Office.
"If there is a special reason for the driver needing his licence then we will do our best to meet the need by speeding up the application," he said.
But in the meantime Swansea says that a certificate of entitlement to drive is all that is needed to keep the licence if there is a delay in the application and this could take the form of a certificate of posting of the application.
If a driver can prove that he has posted his application then, if it has been correctly filled in and has the money with it he can use the certificate of posting given by the Post Office when a letter is posted for recorded delivery.