Driver-tester absenteeism led to 16,000 cancellations

More than 16,000 provisional drivers had their driving tests cancelled over the last 18 months due to the 2,110 sick days taken by testers.

Last year 119 driver testers took 1,245 sick days, or an average of 10.5 days each.

Tom Hoare, assistant general secretary of Impact, last night said he accepted that absenteeism among driver testers was higher than the national average of 7.8 days lost per worker across the private and public sector workforce.

But he said this reflected the nature of the job. "There is stress. Staff sustain injuries every year from the brakes being slammed on. It is just a shame government departments don't distinguish between occupational injuries and normal sick leave." The issue has not been mentioned at meetings between the union and department officials, Mr Hoare said.

However, the level of absenteeism is undermining the Department of Transport's efforts to clear the backlog of drivers waiting for a test.

Since February, more than 25,000 tests have been carried out under a scheme involving bonus payments to testers for working evenings and weekends. But when tests lost to sick days are taken into account, the net gain is just 9,000 tests so far this year.

A spokeswoman for the department said that when a test was cancelled due to the unavailability of a tester, the applicant was offered an alternative date and was not obliged to reapply.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael transport spokeswoman, said the number of driving tests lost due to sick days was part of a wider fall in productivity by driver testers.

"Either resources are the problem or it is a management issue but it is the responsibility of the department to immediately resolve the problems in that section. The number of driving tests carried out has fallen every year since 2000. We were aware that thousands of provisional drivers were not turning up for a test, but it now transpires that some driver testers are not turning up either. No wonder the waiting list is over one year."

Last year 137,500 driving tests were conducted and new applications are running at an average of 170,000 per annum. The pass rate is 54 per cent.

The number of provisional drivers increased by 24,260 last year to 404,607, according to the Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics 2005 report released yesterday. This means that 17 per cent of all licence holders are learner drivers.

Male learners have a slightly higher pass rate (55 per cent) compared with female drivers (52 per cent), according to the report.