§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will investigate the reasons for the delays experienced by persons in the Banff and Buchan constituency wishing to take a driving test; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyWaiting times for driving tests throughout Scotland are too long. We have reduced queues on average in Scotland from 19 weeks to 14 weeks and we aim by continuing recruitment to bring them down to 11 weeks during this year. The waiting list at Banff had shown the same downward trend until very recently. A sharp increase occurred this month, because one of the two examiners covering Banff from Peterhead was expected to be unavailable to conduct tests for three weeks of next month. The traffic area office has since arranged a temporary replacement examiner. Tests initially postponed until April have been advanced to February-March.