'However, we have recruited more staff, have increased overtime and secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham to help reduce waiting times for customers. 'Our staff are working hard to answer queries but there will be delays for customers who call. MPs acknowledge the DVLA is 'currently under immense pressure' due to an ongoing health and safety dispute with the Public and Commercial Services Union as well as delays caused by the pandemic.īefore Covid struck, the agency said the expected target for processing most renewals was 10 days.Ī DVLA spokesman said: 'We handle millions of transactions every year and demand to speak to our contact centre is currently very high. The letter adds that some constituents have been unable to travel abroad to family events including funerals as a result of not having had their passports returned to them. The elderly and those with medical conditions have been the worst hit by the DVLA backlog 'Notably, when individuals have submitted important ID, such as passports, they are often unable to find out when these might be returned.' 'Furthermore, we are also aware of severe delays in the time taken to return applicants' submitted documentation. It states: 'The delays have now reached a level where, in certain cases, our constituents face losing employment owing to the lack of certainty on when they will legally be able to drive. The letter from MPs, organised by Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat member for Richmond Park, says that applicants are being left in precarious situations because of the backlog. The agency urged people to apply for renewals online as that service had not been impacted by the pandemic but those who need to submit sensitive medical and identity documents as part of their applications must do so by post.
Read ben 10 books online drivers#
When the pandemic struck, drivers were given an automatic extension to expiring licences and new website services for logbook changes were introduced to reduce demand on understaffed DVLA offices in Swansea.
The delays mean that those who have submitted important ID documents, such as their passport, as part of their application are often left in limbo and unable to retrieve their documents until their application is processed. Learners, the elderly and those with medical conditions have been hit by the longest waits for documents from the DVLA. The backlog has prompted 62 MPs from across the political divide to sign a letter addressed to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urging him to take action. The DVLA has said they have hired more staff and secured more office space in a bid to tackle the backlog of paper applications, which has been blamed on rolling industrial action and social distancing.Įarlier this month, four out of five members of the Public and Commercial Services Union who voted supported continued strike action which has taken place throughout the year.īut only just under 40 per cent of those balloted actually voted, below the legal threshold of 50 per cent, forcing the union to seek urgent negotiations with DVLA senior management to discuss remaining Covid health and safety concerns. The agency has said backlog is not expected to return to normal levels until 2023 but that they are implementing several measures to tackle the waiting list including a recruitment drive and looking to the private sector to help with testing. Mr Hearn told the committee the agency was recruiting extra staff, including examiners and support staff, and said they had already hired 90 with plans to bring in up to 300.ĭriving tests were prohibited for 12 months as part of the Government's response to prevent the spread of Covid and only resumed in April this year.Īs a result, thousands of drivers were left unable to take their test, creating a backlog which now means some learners are waiting months for a slot. 'We're doing lots of additional things right across the organisation with additional hours, we're bringing people in that can test.' 'We have had significant periods in which we have not been able to test drivers so we are now in a period in which we are trying to recover those services.
Peter Hearn, operations director at the DVSA, told the Commons Transport Committee: 'We normally expect a backlog of about 250,000 tests - we're double that at the moment. The average waiting time is currently 14 weeks, the DVSA said, but some learners are being handed a slot that is up to 24 weeks away. Earlier this month, it was revealed more than 500,000 learner drivers were waiting up to 24 weeks to take their test due to a backlog caused by the coronavirus pandemic.