Driving tests will be cancelled as examiners strike over workload

ANXIOUS learner drivers could have their driving tests cancelled at the last minute due to a planned strike by examiners.

Around 14,000 tests could be cancelled on the day the new driving test is launched and there will be picket lines in Cardiff, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and Swansea.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary for the Public and Commercial Services Union, pictured, said members felt they had no alternative but to take industrial action.

He added: “No one takes strike action lightly and we acknowledge the disruption to the driving tests for learner drivers keen to pass their test.

“But the Government could avoid this strike even now at the 11th hour by agreeing to serious talks and withdrawing their most damaging proposals.”

The dispute is about the new driving test and also working patterns. The union says plans from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency would effectively make them earn five days’ pay for six days’ work. Action began last week and hundreds of tests have already been cancelled. The 48-hour strike is due to start today and end at midnight tomorrow. A ballot in October saw an 84% vote for strike action on a 70% turnout. As well as thousands of driving tests being cancelled, there will be reduced roadside checks on vehicles and reduced enforcement checks on lorries coming into the UK. There will be a picket line at Cardiff Driving Test Centre at Cardiff Business Park from 7.30am to 10.30am tomorrow. The centre in Carmarthen on Old Station Road will be affected from 7.30am for three hours on both days.

There will be industrial action at the centre in Llanelli on Toft Place between 7.30am and 11am on Monday and Tuesday.

The same times apply to the site at Compass House in Merthyr Tydfil.

In Newport, the test centre will be affected from 7.30am to 10.30am on December 4.

The strike will reach Swansea’s driving test centre on Burrows Road in King Dock from 7.30am to 11am on both days.

Mr Serwotka said: “[Our] members in the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have tried to negotiate around their concerns, but the door has been slammed shut in their face.”

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said in a letter to the union that most of the issues in the dispute had been resolved and negotiations could continue if industrial action was called off.