'Now when you take on new pupils you have to tell them at the start they could be waiting five or six months to take their test.'
Learner drivers are having to wait months and travel to up to 70 miles for tests in a situation an instructor has branded "an absolute mess".A shortage of examiners is causing a frantic scramble for tests, with Shropshire learners having to wait as long as five months and take their tests as far away as Crewe or Newtown.
Karen Jones, owner of Shrewsbury-based KS Driving School, believes the pay and lengthy training is putting people off becoming examiners, and does not see a solution on the horizon any time soon."Training an examiner isn't a five-minute job to get them ready. It takes a year. I think people are looking at it and wondering if it's worth it.
"Now when you take on new pupils you have to tell them at the start they could be waiting five or six months to take their test. In 2021/2022, pass rates increased by between three per cent and eight per cent at centres across the county compared to 2019/20, the last pre-pandemic year for statistics. Although, given there were far fewer tests taken, the figures cannot be considered like for like.