§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many and what percentage of candidates taking the(a) practical and (b) written driving test were arrested and charged for impersonation of the real candidate between (i) July 1996 and July 1997 and (ii) July 1997 and July 1998. [69009]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonBetween 1 July 1996 and 30 June 1997, 17 practical test candidates were arrested and charged with impersonation, one other candidate admitted the offence and was convicted of the offence, and two other candidates were arrested and cautioned. Sixteen cases of suspected candidate impersonation were reported to the police at the theory test stage, which resulted in two convictions. During that period, the Driving Standards Agency conducted 1.7 million practical driving tests and 1.4 million theory tests.
In the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, seven practical test candidates and six theory test candidates were arrested and charged from a total of 1.2 million practical and 1.1 million theory tests.
These figures show that the percentage of tests where impersonations were suspected is well below 0.001 per cent. in all cases.