MPs are to grill officers from the Driver and Automobile Licensing Company (DVLA) in regards to the “critical delays” in processing purposes for driving licences after the issue was highlighted by the Guardian.
The transport committee mentioned its session later this month adopted issues from motorists, trainee drivers and lorry drivers about lengthy delays in receiving paperwork.
Guardian Cash has been inundated in latest weeks with complaints from folks making an attempt to resume licences, change handle particulars or have beforehand revoked licences restored.
Some have been ready greater than six months and have described having to place their lives on maintain whereas they awaited important paperwork. A lot of these affected have been contacting their members of parliament determined for assist. On 5 July, a parliamentary query revealed the common turnaround time was between six and 10 weeks.
The DVLA has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Public and Industrial Providers Union about Covid-related security at its workplaces in Swansea, south Wales, which has led to a sequence of strikes, sometimes lasting three days every week.
The committee mentioned the company was apparently experiencing critical delays in processing paper-based purposes for driving licences and different key paperwork.
The issues have created “important antagonistic penalties” for individuals who submitted picture identification similar to passports to assist their purposes, the MPs mentioned.
It will likely be the committee’s second proof session with the DVLA this yr after the chief government, Julie Lennard, was questioned a couple of Covid outbreak on the Swansea headquarters.
At that listening to, Lennard assured MPs that, on the entire, companies had been working “extraordinarily effectively” and “not far under regular figures”.
The committee’s chairman, Huw Merriman, mentioned: “Together with colleagues in parliament, I’ve obtained pleas for assist from constituents determined to additional purposes or to retrieve important documentation from the DVLA.
“These constituents embrace coach drivers who require automobile certification to return to work, learners awaiting probation licences and individuals who urgently want their picture identification for work or immigration functions.
“Extreme delays aren’t simply inconvenient, they’re affecting each day life. We’ve got invited the important thing figures to an proof session to unravel this situation and perceive what must be accomplished.”
The committee mentioned it will search to know the difficulties dealing with the DVLA, the size of any issues and the steps open to it to enhance the scenario.
Witnesses on the session will embrace representatives from the DVLA, the Division for Transport and the PCS union.
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