DRIVING tests in Newton Abbot are stalling with an 18-week waiting list for exasperated L-drivers, it emerged this week.
A shortage of examiners has been blamed for the backlog which driving schools say has never been so bad.
Some ‘frustrated’ schools are booking in candidates for a test before their first lesson in an effort to bridge the gap.
Normally, learners can expect to be on a waiting list for just eight weeks.
But their patience is being stretched beyond breaking point by a service which nationwide is finding itself short of examiners.
A spokesman for the Driving Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said the local difficulty was being addressed with two more examiners being taken on.
But for the moment anyone hoping to take their test around the town won’t be put through their paces till November 8.
One driving school instructor confirmed that some learners were being booked in for their tests at the time of their first lesson.
Others have been given ‘keep-up’ lessons just to stay on top of their game for the long-distant day of reckoning.
The DVSA has revealed that one examiner is due to be hired locally in the very near future while a second would be starting in early September.
One livid L-driver told the Mid-Devon Advertiser: ‘Fortunately, I am not in any great rush to take my test.
‘But my purse is only so big – and I cannot afford to squander what few pounds I have on lessons just to keep me up to scratch weeks after I am ready to take my test.
‘It’s annoying,’ he grumbled.