Newslink October 2021

Regional News
DVSA: Can they do more to help us?
Alex Brownlee
MSA GB Greater London
After a couple of months of silence in
Newslink from Greater London, I was
suddenly struck by a moment of
inspiration – hence this article.
I remember when examiners put pen
to paper on L-tests and I used to know
exactly where my pupil had gone wrong.
Like many ADIs I kept a record of this. If
different pupils had the same faults, then
I knew I had to work on what they were
doing wrong. It was a good way of
gauging how effective my teaching was.
Now, however, the test is marked on
an iPad and the results go straight to the
pupil’s email address, but the DVSA
doesn’t send the results to me. While
some pupils will forward this information
on not all do; some pupils don’t like their
ADI knowing their email address.
This has always been an annoyance
but now it takes on a different tone. In
future the DVSA will use test results as a
way of targeting standards checks and
will send you an alert if there is an area
of concern. The problem is I don’t know
why there is an issue, because I don’t get
the results from them or some of my
pupils. Why can’t the DVSA copy me into
the results as well?
Should we push for this to happen so
we know if we are teaching correctly?
I give my ADI number to my pupils
when they book their tests, to make sure
they don’t double book with one of my
other pupils. Remember that pupils don’t
know exactly how the system test
booking system works. So when they use
my ADI number and book a driving test
many think that I know exactly where
their test is and at what time. As we
know, that’s not correct; despite using
my ADI number, the DVSA doesn’t tell
me it has been used.
I have to tell pupils they are only using
my ADI number for the DVSA calendar
so I’m not double booked for a test.
Why doesn’t DVSA use my ADI
number to inform me when the pupil has
booked a test by showing when and
where the pupils booked it and at what
time – and then after the test, let me
know how they performed?
I hope they read this article so they
can implement what I’ve just said – it
would help us and the DVSA work better
together.
Working together on test slots
Everyone hates the words ‘Covid
delays’ but the DVSA hasn’t got an
option and the L-tests are not coming
through until March 2022.
To try to help out, I am setting up a
group of instructors so that if any of them
have got a driving test and their pupil is
not ready, but my pupil is, we will do a
swap.
This is helping the pupil out as well
because if we have got a pupil up to
standard who is waiting and still paying
for driving lessons, they’re saving money.
Some, because of the wait, stop
driving lessons until nearer the test date
they were originally given.
Anyone who agrees or disagrees with
me, please let me know.
CONTACT
To comment on this article, or provide
updates, contact Alex at
msaeditorgreaterlondon@gmail.com
Heads should roll at DVSA over B+E farce
Guy Annan
MSA GB Western
On September 10 it was announced that
all trailer testing would cease on
September 20. Trainers had little over a
week’s notice to tell you that you were
going to be out of work if trailer training
was your game, as it is for a lot of
people.
How can this be allowed to happen?
‘We need more examiners testing to to
get lorry drivers passed’ was the DVSA
battle cry, because there is a nationwide
shortage. Did they not have the foresight
to see this was going to happen when
Brexit happened?
Okay, so after all the bellyaching, how
do we come up with a solution? Why
should we; after all, it’s not our mess, it’s
theirs. However, unless we don’t give
them the answers they’ll bury their
heads in the sand and pretend that
there’s not a problem.
Why not encourage people to become
driving examiners, starting by paying
them a decent wage. £24K is hardly
going to attract many people. Pay more?
I hear you cry, how are we going to pay
for that? Now here’s the clever bit…
double the cost of the L-test so that you
get fewer time wasters – you know, the
ones trying to pass without proper tuition
but who have bagged themselves an
L-test using their clever little app but
who now realise they can’t find an
instructor to teach them.
It will also help convince those more
concientious pupils who would listen to
you more before committing themselves
to an L-test because of the higher cost.
The result would be fewer candidates
for test but more examienrs – leaving
capacity to do more testing in things like
lorries and trailers!
So we’ve just solved the waiting list
problem and the lorry driver problem in
one fell swoop.
Best of all, we’ve done it without
compromising road safety. “Drive safely
for life” is the DVSA slogan. Really? So
how does that fit in now that they are
going backwards and lowering the
standard when it comes to towing ?
An L-test pupil can pass their test in
something small, let’s say a Fiat 500, in
the morning and then quite legally in the
afternoon get into a Jaguar, hitch it up to
a huge caravan and have no idea about
the towing limits (because they’ve not
been taught) and drive off down the
motorway, or equally as bad down the
country lanes.
We’re going back to the old days but at
least then there weren’t so many cars on
the road then.
This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Extra reason to be be careful out there.
CONTACT
To comment on this article, or provide
updates, contact Guy at g.annan@
alphadrivingtaunton.com
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NEWSLINK n OCTOBER 2021