§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Minister of Transport, further to the reply to the hon. Member for Louth on 5 July, why the national average waiting period for a driving test has increased from 16½ weeks in 1978 to 27 weeks in the current year.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe main reason is that there have been insufficient examiners to cope with a much increased demand for tests over the period. In addition, many more tests than usual were lost during the winter because of the exceptionally bad weather. Finally, a470W much smaller number of tests were lost as a result of industrial action. We are recruiting more examiners and reviewing all possible ways of reducing delays.