Availability of category D driving test slots must not be “compromised” by any measures that are taken by DVSA to accelerate the throughput of LGV testing in response to a driver shortage in that sector, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has told Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps.
In a letter to Mr Shapps, CPT Operations Director Keith McNally says that the coach and bus industry is facing a driver shortage of its own that could cause difficulties with home-to-school services when children and students return to education.
Mr McNally says that operators lacking he delegated authority to carry out tests in-house “have found it increasingly difficult” to secure slots. He has called on Mr Shapps to “take urgent action” to ensure that the focus on LGV testing does not come to the detriment of category D test availability, which is already lagging behind what the industry needs.
CPT estimates that there is a shortage of 3,000 drivers in the coach and bus sector caused by a lack of test appointments alone. “While operators from across the country have been able to recruit new drivers, they are unable to secure the testing slots they need to allow them to enter the workforce,” adds Mr McNally.
The Confederation further tells Mr Shapps that some coach and bus operators have been forced to hand back home-to-school contracts because drivers are unable to complete all required category D driving test measures before the start of the new academic year.
“This is placing increasing pressure on local authorities to find alternatives and removing an important income stream from coach operators that they rely on during the winter,” says Mr McNally.
Ministers have repeatedly advised the freight sector that it must lead on finding long-term solutions to its driver shortage.
However, in a letter on 20 July, Mr Shapps, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Therese Coffey and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice told that industry that DVSA had increased its LGV testing capacity to 1,500 passes per week through additional testing staff resource and overtime.
Further measures “can sustain this increase and potentially raise it to 2,000 passes per week,” the three ministers wrote, although among those steps will be a delegation of what they describe as “off-road manoeuvres,” subject to consultation.
