Driving test examiners are to strike for 48 hours in protest against the biggest changes in decades to the exam, which they say will see them working longer for no extra pay.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will picket test centres across Britain on Monday and Tuesday. The driving test changes, the most significant since the written theory exam was introduced in 1996, come into effect on Monday.
PCS members voted overwhelmingly – 84% – in favour of strikes, on a 70% turnout. The union said examiners were being told to work longer, harder and for no extra pay when the new tests are introduced by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
“PCS members in the DVSA have tried to negotiate around their concerns but the door has been slammed shut in their face,” said the PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka. “They now feel they have no alternative but to take industrial action to bring home to the public how damaging the DVSA proposals are.”
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.”
The DVSA said the new test offered a more realistic assessment of driving skills. Drivers will be allowed to follow directions from a satnav, the independent driving part of the test will double in length, and people will no longer be tested on certain reversing manoeuvres.
Rare manoeuvres, such as reversing around a corner, are being replaced by more common scenarios, such as entering a parking bay.
Learners will also have to answer “show me, tell me” vehicle safety questions while driving. For example, they may be asked how to check that the headlights and tail-lights are working without leaving the vehicle.
The agency said the PCS was trying to link a longstanding contractual dispute with alleged health and safety risks of changes to the driving test.
The examiner’s union says the new test is badly designed and the new manoeuvres required could put public safety at risk. The DVSA, however, says they have been risk-assessed.
“PCS’s shameless industrial action is not about the safety of the new test,” the DVSA said. “It’s about the implementation of the standardised modernised employment contract which was introduced in 2014 that PCS members voted overwhelmingly to accept.”
Serwotka wrote to the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, last week, urging him to intervene in the row but said he was disappointed by his “completely inadequate, last-minute reply”.
“He repeats the misinformation of DVSA management that travelling time was settled three years ago,” said Serwotka. “This is completely wrong. Some issues were resolved in 2015 but travelling time was left to further negotiations. Talks have failed as DVSA insisted on imposing new rosters.”
The PCS says changes to examiners’ contracts could mean they work for six days a week but only get paid for five. The DVSA’s plans to introduce a “flexible working” system mean managers can send staff anywhere they choose, without prior notice. Staff would be expected to travel for up to 90 minutes a day in their own time.
Department for Transport data shows younger drivers are up to seven times more likely to be killed or seriously injured while driving, compared with those over 25. It is believed that their lack of experience is an important factor.
Grayling wrote in a letter to PCS that most of the issues in the dispute had been resolved and that negotiations could continue if industrial action were called off.
The DVSA’s chief driving examiner, Lesley Young, said: “The new test will help prepare new drivers for driving on modern roads and support a reduction in the number of young people killed or seriously injured.”
The modifications to the test were welcomed by driving experts and road safety groups.
AA president Edmund King said the new test “now reflects real-life driving” and predicted that people who pass it will have “more confidence when driving solo”.
Road Safety GB chair Sonya Hurt said: “Modern vehicles feature an increasing array of driver-assist technology and, as such, it is sensible and realistic to test the candidate’s ability to use a satnav system.
“We also welcome the fact that the new regime will allow test candidates more time on the rural road network, where the consequences of inexperience can be particularly devastating.”
