Taxi Driver Online

From the 16th of april the DSA test will become a requirement for all new applicants in our Licensing district.

I would be interested to know how many councils require a DSA test to be taken but would not know how to find out this information (without asking each council).

Also if your area requires this test has it made much of a difference in the amount of drivers applying for licenses. We have always been regarded as an easy area to get a License and have previously attracted drivers from surrounding areas.

If your area does require the test can you give me a brief rundown of what is required in regard to content and difficulty as existing drivers will be required to take the test as well.

Shouldn't "Grandfather rights" be given to existing drivers? Sounds like another earner for a governent dept on top of the "cannot fail" NVQ's that cost someone along the way plenty. Bl00dy eggs a be sucked dry!

Quite a few do.

Send the DVLA a FoI request asking how many.

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IDFIMH

It slows down the applications by deterring some, and delaying the rest.

I think it's very similar to the normal DVLA test, but has added things that may apply to our trade. Not sure what though.

Ask for a breakdown.

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IDFIMH

You're lucky. As I have PCV entitlement (D1 etc), I've had to sit through 35 hours of form-filling that masquerades as "training" to continue driving a psv for hire and reward from September this year. More EU bollox designed to "improve road safety" but all it seems to do is generate another "jobs for the boys" training scheme who get vast amounts of sponsorship to bore us to tears for a week.

I've also had to do the taxi driving NVQ at Shepway's behest, another 35 hours wasted. Pah. A DSA driving test would have been slightly more interesting, more relevant to what the job actually entails, i.e. "driving" (clue in the title there), and may improve road safety by picking up on bad habits.

Send the FoI Act request to the Driving Standards Agency not the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The DSA is responsible for driving tests, including the taxi driver assessment. The DVLA isn't!

Our council has had the test as a requirement for new applicants since 2008. As at December 2012 150 councils had this test as a requirement. It currently costs £80 and you will find it can take 4 to 6 weeks to get an appointment. If you fail there is no free retest, you have to book and pay again. Our local trade had a meeting with the council in December to try and get the requirement withdrawn as it was proving to be difficult to bring new drivers into the trade.

This point can be a good or bad thing depending on your local situation. I think it is a good thing but please keep that bewteen us!

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Nobody told me to use my initiative. To err is human to arr is pirate.

Carlisle have had the DSA test for almost 10 years - it has been broadly successful and given the LA an additional tool in respect of requiring serial driving offenders to sit a test without having to go down the road of revoking their license.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Thanks for the info, I personally am all for it and as an existing driver am also happy to take the test as I feel that it will stem the flow of out of town drivers who come here as we have been seen as an easy touch in the past.

However there is some opposition from a lot of existing drivers who don,t want to take the test.

grandfather rights?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Echo?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

If your driving's ok, why should you fear having to take a DSA test? I've seen too many taxi and PH drivers around who should never be behind the wheel of any vehicle.

VOSA staff have an unofficial term for it: DLAC. Driving like a count. (sorry, dyslexia crept in again). ISTR trafpol use the same term for certain types of accident causation.

If it improves road safety or the standards of driving, it can't be a bad thing, but then it's another day off the road to take the test, another £80 to earn just to stay on the road, so that's £160 for the test, but no-one in authority thinks of the hidden cost. More red tape from a government purporting to cut red tape for small businesses...