Hauliers accuse RSA 'of moving deck chairs around Titanic' by switching truck driving testers to car test centres

The Irish Road Haulage Association said the RSA had diverted testing resources from commercial testing into car testing under 'intense political pressure', and it comes at a time when the haulage sector is desperately short on drivers.

Road hauliers have accused the Road Safety Authority of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, claiming it has massaged driving test figures by moving bus and truck testers to car testing to reduce wait times.

The Irish Road Haulage Association said the RSA had diverted testing resources from commercial testing into car testing under “intense political pressure”, and it comes at a time when the haulage sector is desperately short on drivers.

“Young Irish drivers who need a license to drive a bus, truck or HGV cannot get licenses because the RSA have all but stopped commercial testing to focus on car testing,” the hauliers group president Ger Hyland said.

“They have pulled the wool over this Government's eyes and instead of dealing with the high demand for testing, they decided to simply move the deck chairs around the Titanic.” 

During the summer, the RSA has been ramping up its efforts to reduce waiting times for drivers hoping to sit their test, with times of well over six months being reported in some centres earlier this year. This has included dozens of additional testers and the extension of operating hours.

Last week, the RSA said the average waiting time for a driving test had reduced to 14.4 weeks from a peak of 27 weeks at the end of April. It said it remained on course to bring average waiting times down to 10 weeks by September.

However, hauliers pointed to CSO data which shows a sharp increase in the number of applicants waiting for an articulated truck licence test in recent months, compared to a decrease in the numbers waiting for a car driving test.

Furthermore, there was a fall in the number of tests scheduled for category C truck licences compared to an increase for car licence tests.

Mr Hyland said: “One HGV driving instructor in Kerry told us that he didn’t have a scheduled commercial driving test in the Tralee centre since May and wasn’t expecting one until at least August.

He told of the devastating impact this was having on his business and how he had young drivers waiting since January for a commercial driving test to try and get a job. 

Mr Hyland said his organisation had written to transport ministers Darragh O’Brien and Sean Canney on the issue, giving them a two-week deadline to come back with sustainable proposals to improve driving test wait times in their sector.

“These are the drivers we need to bring tourists around, deliver goods and keep our economy running,” he added.

In a statement, the RSA said it was “fully committed” to delivering fair and timely access to driving tests for all categories.

It said “record levels” of truck and bus tests were delivered in May in preparation of the release of “our experienced staff from the service to support the training of our new recruits”.

“This resulted in a reduction of testing staff to support the higher licence categories during the training period in June and July,” the RSA said.

“This short-term adjustment is already delivering improvements in overall capacity. Once the new testers are fully deployed from early September, waiting times for all licence categories — including commercial — will stabilise and meet service-level agreements.” 

It added the 2,738 people awaiting a truck or driving test at the end of June would be issued an invitation in the coming weeks.