Disorganised DVLA

SIR – The apology for the work of the DVLA and its “mountains of paperwork and a reduced staff ” (Letters, June 22) hardly resonates in the real world.

If commercial firms operated in this way they would go bankrupt. Instead we have manufacturers of bread and flour, to take just two examples, adjusting their systems and operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with staff on shifts.

DVLA staff will be on 100 per cent salary, even when at home, so why are they not working on a rota basis to clear the backlog?

As Juliet Samuel wrote last Saturday: “The myth of Britain as a well-run country has been exposed by the ineptitude of the state apparatus.”

Dr Roger Litton Harrogate, North Yorkshire

SIR – The DVLA is blamed for closing driving test centres (Letters, June 22), making driving tests impossible. But the DVLA does not operate driving test centres, nor theory test centres. These are run by the Driving Standards Agency, a separate body.

James B Sinclair St Helier, Jersey

SIR – For many, the burning question is not when schools and pubs will open, it is when the DVLA will be working.

While one’s driving licence photo ID is stuck unprocessed in the backlog, you cannot present it when asked for Covid-19 tracing. The letter saying it has been delayed but you are legal to drive would be unacceptable to a venue that required contact IDS.

Sue Doughty Twyford, Berkshire

SIR – To give credit where it’s due, I applied for a driving licence renewal on June 13 and received the new one in the post on June 18.

Christine Tame Brockham, Surrey

SIR – It is not only the DVLA that has put up the shutters. I ordered a certificate from the General Register Office on April 16. Payment in full was instantly taken from my card, but I am still waiting for the certificate.

Phone enquiries are greeted with a long recorded message followed by: “We will now disconnect your call.” If it were a private company, I would be on to Trading Standards by now.

Graham Snowdon Sheffield, South Yorkshire