Instructors strike over strict driving tests

LOW PASS rates in the Larnaca and Famagusta districts yesterday prompted driving instructors to stage a 12-hour strike.

The work stoppage, which started at 7am and including blocking off the road leading to the examiners office near the airport, was called after instructors claimed driving examiners at the Larnaca-Famagusta district transport department “inexcusably failed” driving licence candidates, with the result that the students applied for tests in other districts with higher pass rates.

Instructors’ union president Andreas Charalambous said: “Examiners in Larnaca are young, inexperienced and excessively strict – acting, of course, on their superiors’ instructions.”

He said the result was exceptionally low pass rates for first time sitters, which had a knock on effect on driving schools as students. He said students who failed their test two to three times reapplied to sit their driving test in other towns.

“They apply to take the test in other districts where the examiners are not as strict and the pass rates are much higher,” he said.

Charalambous said Nicosia’s pass rates was around 80 to 82 per cent, while in Larnaca the percentage dropped to 56 per cent, though in reality this percentage was much lower as it included motorbike licences and professional licences.

He said: “The real pass rates are 10 to 15 per cent in Larnaca and 60 to 65 per cent in Nicosia.”

The union president said another problem was the huge delay to retake exams due to excessive workload. He said while in other districts candidates only had to wait a month to re-sit their exam, in Larnaca the waiting period was at least two and a half months.

The instructors are calling for the immediate replacement of Larnaca’s examiners with more experienced personnel.
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