A TROWBRIDGE driving instructor has hit out the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency for doing nothing about tackling the four-month long wait learner drivers have to endure before taking a test in the town.

Self-employed instructor Steve Dayman-Johns says that the agency could cut the waiting period for people to take a test by a third if it just brought in an extra examiner.

Mr Dayman-Johns said that as waiting times for a test in Salisbury are around a month and Chippenham a couple of weeks more, examiners could help with the backlog of learner drivers in the county town and speed up the process, free of charge.

“I cannot understand why the DVSA are doing nothing to tackle this lengthy waiting time. I have written to them many times and nothing comes of it,” he said.

“The examiners are not paid for every test, they are on a salary. So for the sake of a week extra at Salisbury or Chippenham, the DVSA could get an examiner to come to Trowbridge and we could reduce the waiting times by a month or more.

“This will not cost a single penny more, so why do they not do it? I think it is only fair to do so. Everyone pays the same amount for lessons so why should they have to wait so much longer for it.

“However the DVSA do not seem that interested in tackling this problem. They have not given me a proper reason as to why they will not do this.”

Richard Hennessey, DVSA Head of Operations South, said: “We acknowledge that many of our customers are waiting too long to take a driving test. Over the past three years, demand has increased by over 200,000 tests and we are working hard to make more tests available.

“For the business year 2017 to 2018, we have recruited 384 new driving examiners, have 26 currently in training or booked on a course and made employment offers to 24 prospective driving examiners.”

Trowbridge pass rates between April 2016 and December 2016 were at 48.3 percent, five percent above the national average.