DVLA Cancel driving test

PINGLEIST

Not sure if this is the right forum but my daughter has just been informed by Voice Mail that the DVLA has cancelled her Practical driving test due tomorrow, apparently the examiner is unavailable..
Shocking service and she has wasted two days off work plus a double lesson today in preperation.
I have reeled off a complaint to their customer service dept but don,t really know where she stands for any compensation.
Has anyone any advice or experienced the same?

Happychappy

the examiner has possibly gone off sick and so no-one else available to do the tests and you call it shocking ? What did you expect someone to go to the examiner plant, add a bit of water and grow another examiner overnight ?

You will get your money back and no need for compensation.

gems1617

That's nothing, at least she got told. They cancelled my first test without even telling me. It was SO not nice. I'd gone out for my pre-test, driven to the test centre & sat in the waiting room only to be told that my examiner was sick! :mad: The cheek of it!!! AND I still had to pay my instructer for a double lesson. They gave me a form to fill out for compensation.

Happychappy

And the moral of the story is...........................noone is allowed to be ill !

kammyk

happy chappy - there is no need for sarcasm!

I agree the DVLA are in the wrong. Considering how long it takes to get a practical test date (it used to be about 6 to 8 weeks when i done my test just 3 years ago), the anticipation, extra lessons that you take just before the test, planning time off work, the sleepless nights etc

The DVLA should have an examiner available, Being sick is no excuse! Its like a shop closing just because everyone is ill, they should have some kind of contingency plan in place.

The DVLA is a monopoly of sort and therefore I guess they are able to get away with it. She must be really :mad:

kammyk

Happychappy wrote: »

And the moral of the story is...........................noone is allowed to be ill !

There is no need for sarcastic comments! You are far from a happy chappy!

C_Ronaldo

Happychappy wrote: »

And the moral of the story is...........................noone is allowed to be ill !

good comment, :T:T

PINGLEIST

Happychappy wrote: »

the examiner has possibly gone off sick and so no-one else available to do the tests and you call it shocking ? What did you expect someone to go to the examiner plant, add a bit of water and grow another examiner overnight ?

You will get your money back and no need for compensation.

We know anyone can throw a sicky but it,s their arrogance and lack of an apology that really grinds. The message just states a letter will be sent with the re-arranged test date, even her instructor had never heard of this happening.

cajef

I used to be a driving instructor, it happens quite frequently, there are only so many examiners and they cannot produce someone from thin air if someone goes off ill or for other reasons.

It also happens occasionally at the test centre on the day of a test as gems1617 in post three above found out, unfortunately a lot of driving instructors cannot afford to lose their fees, but the DSA will only compensate for time lost for the test if you have actually turned up at the test centre, they will not pay for any pre-test lessons.

Happychappy

kammyk wrote: »

happy chappy - there is no need for sarcasm!

I agree the DVLA are in the wrong. Considering how long it takes to get a practical test date (it used to be about 6 to 8 weeks when i done my test just 3 years ago), the anticipation, extra lessons that you take just before the test, planning time off work, the sleepless nights etc

The DVLA should have an examiner available, Being sick is no excuse! Its like a shop closing just because everyone is ill, they should have some kind of contingency plan in place.

The DVLA is a monopoly of sort and therefore I guess they are able to get away with it. She must be really :mad:

SO what do you expect to happen ? does your perfect world mean that every test must have two instructors available so that if one goes sick the other takes over ? and if the other one doesnt go sick the extra examiner can have an early finish and go shopping :rolleyes: Where does the extra examiner come from to replace the sick one if all the examiners are booked up ?

What happens in your job if you go off sick ? how are the DSA expected to on the one hand keep all examiners fully booked, yet have spare examiners sat round waiting for someone to go off sick or the cat to die unexpectedly or ????

Let us into your ordered world and explain how the test centre should cope with this and not pay people to sit round waiting for a colleague to fall ill. You would soon moan if you had to pay more and the DSA said "its a contingency plan for if one of the examiners fall ill ?"

What a marvellous world you live in and you are certainly not a happy bunny, where I remain a happychappy and await your words of wisdom of how you solve the problem of sickness ? or does the sick person only get one chance and then gets dragged out and stoned to death with their family and pets to teach them a lesson :eek:

novagirl

I too turned up to the test centre for my test and apparently I was put on the wrong list for that day so I'd need to go home and re book. I was given a form to fill out for compensation but I just never got round to doing it. Like someone said, at least you were told in advance.