In a letter of response to Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar, who last month wrote to the Chief Executive of the DVSA ((Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) to ask what action they are taking to reduce the excessively long wait times for driving tests in Rhyl, the DVSA have said they are doing all they can, but admitted that recruiting new examiners for the area has been challenging.
After being contacted by constituents who are struggling to book practical driving tests in Rhyl, Darren sent a letter to the Chief Executive of the DVSA at the end of last month asking what is being done to recruit more examiners and reduce wait times.
He recently received a response in which the Chief Executive, Loveday Ryder, said that there are two permanent driving examiners (DE) at Rhyl DTC, “but unfortunately both are currently absent from work”, and that to assist with waiting times, they “have deployed and continue to deploy examiners from Wrexham, South Wales and Liverpool DTCs into Rhyl DTC”.
However, she did state that they hope to make some employment offers in the North Wales area soon.
Her letter stated:
“We remain committed to addressing the shortage of examiners and driving tests in North Wales. The region continues to be included in successive recruitment campaigns, and we continue our efforts to attract qualified candidates to ensure long-term improvements. We have visibility planned in local Job Fairs and we are reaching out to Job Centres to encourage more successful applications.
“Over the past three campaigns, only one candidate has been successfully recruited and began training on 2 June at Bangor driving test centre (DTC). Unfortunately, all other applications have either been unsuccessful or the candidate has withdrawn from the recruitment process.
“Recruitment remains a priority in the North Wales area and Bangor, Rhyl, and Wrexham clusters have been included in our most recent campaign. We are currently conducting the assessment drive part of the recruitment process, and the results are looking promising. We are hopeful that we can make some employment offers for all three sites soon.”
She also told Darren they are working on proposed changes to the booking rules, which would make test reselling practically impossible while preserving legitimate uses of the system by learners and instructors.
Commenting on the response, Darren said:
“I thank the Chief Executive for her comprehensive response, and I am pleased to hear that there could soon be some new examiners to serve the North Wales area and that they are working to change the booking system, however it is sadly not a quick fix and, in the meantime, learners are out of pocket paying for more and more lessons as they wait for a test to become available.
“It was suggested by the Chief Executive that the learners practice with family and friends to keep costs down, but excessive insurance prices for learner drivers means this isn’t always possible.
“She also failed to address in her response the impact that this is having on instructors, with new students not signing up because they are aware of the lengthy waits for tests.
“These long waits are costing people valuable employment and educational opportunities and turning their ambition into frustration. The DVSA need to get these new examiners in place quickly and continue to run tests at weekends to clear the backlog of people waiting.”
