Driving tester under investigation for allegedly accepting a bribe

A driving tester with the Road Safety Authority is under investigation for alleging taking a bribe.

It is just the third such complaint that the RSA has had to deal with since it assumed responsibility for driving tests back in 2007.

The testers in the previous two cases were subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.

In the statement, the RSA said: “Since the RSA took over responsibility for the driving test in 2007 the RSA has received three complaints in relation to allegations of driver testers taking a bribe.

“Two cases were found to have no substance and one is currently in the process of being investigated.”

It is not known in which part of the country the complaint was made.

Separately, the RSA said there had been 14 instances in the past five years where a candidate had offered an inducement to a tester.

“In all cases the driver tester took the appropriate action and the matter was referred to the gardaí,” an RSA spokesman said.

Figures for last year show almost half of all those who sat the test failed, as the pass rate was 52.52%.

Meanwhile, the operators of the NCT said that four members of staff had been dismissed since the start of last year for breaches of conduct — but none of the cases related to bribery.

Applus said the National Car Testing Service was committed to providing a system “that meets standards of good practice and stands up well to international benchmarking”, with a dedicated team in place to manage complaints, allegations, and investigations.

A spokesperson also said a confidential whistleblower process to which both staff and the public have access has also been provided, through a confidential telephone hotline and via an email address.

It emerged earlier this year that more cars are failing than passing the NCT.