Category: John’s View

Worrying news reaches me that all is not well among the ranks of driving examiners. As we know, waiting times are increasing all over the country and many examiners are retiring when they could stay on a little longer simply, some say, because morale within their numbers is very low; a number are reported to feel that the DVSA is no longer a happy place to be.

Much of the discontent appears to be connected to the Modernising Employment Contracts (MEC), a cross government initiative designed to standardise the hours worked by all civil servants. It has been suggested to me that this was never a great deal in the first place and that most people who voted for it did so on the basis that the alternative was no pay increases, forever!

There are many complex and varied reasons why individuals vote for a particular political party. It might be upbringing, it could be personal conviction or a vague liking for a particular policy.

Generally speaking, I have found over the years that most driver trainers tend to lean towards the right of the political spectrum. This is possibly driven (sorry) in many cases by the principle that as self-employed business people, their best interests are served by a right of centre party.

If the DVSA want more professional ADIs, they need to give us the log books, allow us on motorways, ensure everyone does CPD.

I was recently told by an examiner about a test candidate who, at the end of their test, was asked to complete a reverse bay park in the test centre car park. The candidates’ reaction to the request was odd as he looked taken aback. In practice he could not complete the manoeuvre and failed the test for that alone.

The MSA has called for action to end a ‘postcode lottery’ over driving test waiting times as the DVSA struggles to cope with increased demand for L-tests.

As ADIs – and their pupils – are finding out, waiting times for tests, which have been at or around the DVSA target figure of six weeks since the start of the recession in 2008, have been creeping up inexorably around Great Britain in recent months. Many ADIs are grumbling that their local DTC is now struggling to offer driving tests within 10 weeks, in some parts of the country the situation is far worse.

I was able to attend the IMTD June meeting a few days ago and as always it was great to meet up with old friends and colleagues.

The Driving Instructors Scottish Council (DISC) current chair of the National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP) hosted a NASP meeting in Edinburgh yesterday (2.6.15)

I thought at this General Election, rather than decide which party to vote for on the basis of my past voting loyalties or my belief in which party would best manage the economy for me and mine or even which one looked to me to be the best bet for the nation as a whole. I had decided that this time, I would vote for the party that offers the best deal on road safety – the party that cares most about death and serious injury on our roads particularly amongst new young drivers. The last reported figures showed that in the year ending September 2014 (latest available figures) there were 1,760 reported road fatalities, the KSIs were 24,360 and the total number of casualties 192,910.

Lots of anniversaries are being celebrated around now. The MSA has just celebrated 80 years of service to the industry at the association’s recent very successful conference. We did not spent a huge amount of time looking back but, with half an eye on the past and always trying to learn the lessons history teaches us, the conference was all about the future.

In the wide-ranging coverage of the event in the April issue of Newslink you can get a great flavour of the event but why not make a note in your diary for next year’s conference date: Saturday, 12 March 2016.

Every day is a learning day. I had a call today from, an MSA member who is having some problems with his ADI registration he is not currently working in the driver training field and he is struggling to fulfil the requirement to attend for a standards check.

During our conversation he said to me “I’m not that bothered about staying on the ADI register it is hardly the apotheosis of my life.”

I’m probably being a bit harsh but I’m sure those council parking attendants get some satisfaction out of their jobs they always seem to be smiling when they’re issuing tickets.

I was shopping in Manchester city centre last year having paid and displayed in an on road parking bay. I was returning to my car when I saw the parking attended place the ticket on the windscreen. “I’m sorry I’m late back but its only two minutes don’t you have any discretion.” I said the attendant replied, with a smile “We allow drivers two minutes, you are three minutes late.” So that was that thirty quid lighter (half the fine because I paid quickly) and I have not been back to shop in the city centre since.