Helensburgh Advertiser | News | Young mum's driving test agony

Wednesday, 19th November, 2008

Published: Thursday, 21st September, 2006 10:35

Young mum's driving test agony

By Rachel Lamb

A FURIOUS young mum claims her driving test was cancelled for the second time in a row because the examiner `couldn’t be bothered` to show up.

Learner, Gina Swift, 29, who has already missed out on one test due to DSA strikes, found the driving centre in Dumbarton abandoned when she turned up for her practical exam.

When she contacted head office later that day, she was told the examiner had refused to show up because Dumbarton was not an area he covered.

Gina, from West King Street, Helensburgh waited for more than an hour at the empty offices last Thursday before heading home. She told the Advertiser: `I’m raging. It’s an absolute farce.

`When we got to the test centre, the lights were off and the doors were locked.

`I phoned the head office in Newcastle and they said that as far as they were concerned my test was supposed to go ahead. They couldn’t tell me why the examiner wasn’t there.

`When I called again later, they said the guy had refused to turn up because Dumbarton wasn’t his test centre. Basically, he couldn’t be bothered so he just didn’t show.`

Gina’s first exam, timetabled for July 31, was changed due to nationwide strikes. But she claims she did not receive a letter informing her of the new test date until two days after she was due to sit the exam.

She added: `No one told me that the test had been cancelled. When I got to the centre, it was empty. I didn’t even get the letter until two days later.

`Now it’s happened again. I got myself all psyched up for nothing. I feel like they are just messing me about. They haven’t even apologised.

`That’s the second time I have had to pay the instructor the full hour for a car even though I was never in it. It has also been a real hassle trying to organise baby sitters.

`They have offered me another test next Friday but I am away on holiday so will have to wait until the end of October. I just want this to be over and done with.`

A spokesman for the DSA claimed the examiner had chosen not to come to Dumbarton last Thursday because he was following a work to rule policy, which involved sticking rigidly to the terms of his contract.

As Dumbarton was more than 45 minutes away from the test centre he would have been travelling from, he did not legally have to attend.

Rosemary Thew, DSA Chief Executive told the Advertiser: `We are very sorry indeed for the inconvenience caused to candidates whose practical tests are cancelled as a result of the work to rule.

`DSA are seeking to reorganise the agency to make best use of public money and to improve road safety. We will continue to meet with the PCS union in order to resolve the situation.`

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