Rosemary Thew
Driving Standards Agency
The Axis Building
112 Upper Parliament Street
Nottingham
NG1 6LP

From: Lightning Motorcycle Training

Friday 2nd August 2008

c.c.:
Gordon Brown MP
David Cameron MP
Select Committee on Public Accounts
Transport Select Committee
Rosie Winterton MP (Transport Minister)
Andrew Smith MP (Oxford)
Martin Salter MP (Reading)
Theresa Villiers MP (Shadow Transport Minister)
Jacques Barrot (European Transport Commissioner)

Dear Ms Thew,

Re: Advanced notice of Charges – 2008 Motorcycle Test

This letter is to give you notice that it is our intention to take the following steps after 29th September 2008:

1/. For every motorcycle test that we have to take a candidate to outside your 20 miles/45 minute radius we will charge the Driving Standards Agency £1.00 for every mile covered.

2/. In the event that our business is stifled by a lack of available motorcycle tests (i.e. we have the demand but either as a result of no local test centre or lack of examiners) we will seek damages from the Driving Standards Agency.

3/. Where our business is stifled we will seek to make our protest public by picketing local car/HGV test centres, DVLA offices and VOSA sites.

Our right to seek damages from the Driving Standards Agency is laid down in the Third European directive which states that anyone effected by either the non-implementation or bad implementation of the new test will be able to sue for compensation from the member state. As the Driving Standards Agency looks set to implement the new test with only slightly more than half the proposed test centres operational, and is in the process of giving both the public and motorcycle training schools six weeks’ notice to find out where their local test centre will definitely be, what days of the week the tests will take place and how many test will be on offer, we consider this to be prima facia evidence of “bad implementation”. In short we know as much now about what the future holds as we did 12 months ago. When you wrote to us 14 months ago and stated the businesses had to adapt to change you did not make it clear that we would have six weeks to make those changes.

On a wider context this letter is also to express the very strong opinion that we do not consider that your position as Chief Executive Officer of the Driving Standards Agency is tenable any longer. We are calling for your resignation with immediate effect; a resignation that we believe is the only honourable action for a person that has presided over such a shambolic state of affairs.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is tasked with, amongst other things, delivering a reduction of 40% in riders and drivers killed and seriously (KSI) injured in road accidents by 2010. As a body financed by the public purse it is has duty to spend its money with prudence and wisdom. On both these counts it fails

1/. Since spending public money in 2007 on “Threshold” to raise morale within the DSA examiners have been on strike three times. Furthermore the confusion and chaos surrounding the introduction of the new motorcycle test has meant many motorcycle examiners have decided to give up their positions in favour of being a car examiner. Most of these are citing excessive travelling distances as a prime factor. We consider that mismanagement and poor implementation has led to low morale (not to mention pay).

2/. The new motorcycle test has not one manoeuvre that will improve road safety for motorcyclists. The principals of an emergency stop are the same at any speed. The accident statistics for motorcyclists killed or injured attempting to park their motorcycle or ride slowly around cones are nonexistent. The idea that “swerving” around a cone in an empty car park as a test of a riders ability to avoid a car pulling out in front of them is dangerously misleading (what about using the horn?). The implementation of the new test is for compliances sake; something the UK could have easily opted out of or implemented in a way that would have improved rider safety. All of this at a cost to the public of well over £200 million pounds, not to mention the prospect of the virtual destruction of the motorcycle training industry. The RIA (Regulatory Impact Assessment) made in March 2004 now looks laughable in the face of actuality – “The costs to businesses of the adopted approach are negligible”. It is interesting to note that in the same report under “Justification of the Measures” there is no mention of improved road safety. We contend that no one at the DSA gave any serious thought to this matter, rather that they acted with complacency.

3/. Why does a DSA motorcycle examiner have to ride one of the most expensive mainstream motorcycles currently on offer? Why does a DSA examiner have to go on a day long conversion course when the engine capacity changes by 50cc? Why does the DSA have such an appalling record for sickness? Why does an examiner have to hire a car of over a certain size simply to conduct a motorcycle test? Why does the public have to so frequently subsidize tests for industrial action, or for travelling time (when Deployment has failed to employ a local examiner), or for sickness or absence? Why did it take over a year to organise the cone layout for the new motorcycle test? In short why does the DSA go to such extraordinary lengths to spend such large amounts money on things that have absolutely no bearing on road safety? Again we consider that mismanagement and apathy are at the root of these questions, and that little or nothing is done to tackle these issues.

4/. The DSA has recently increased the cost to the public of the Theory Test (and increased the number of questions). As far as we know there are no published figures to suggest that the Theory Test has any bearing whatsoever on either safer driving/riding or of an individual’s understanding of the Highway Code. Ask any ATB or ADI if their candidates know more about the rules of the road after taking the Theory Test and the answer will be “No!”. By your own records has the pass rate for riders/drivers changed since the introduction of the Theory Test? No, and yet you quite cynically sanctioned the increase in price and extra questions. Nothing has made more impact than the DVLA’s decision to withdraw sending out a Highway Code with each new licence. Notwithstanding this why is there no Hazard Perception Test for motorcyclists? Where are the slippery surface hazards, the tightening bends or filtering/overtaking clips to improve rider awareness of hazards? In fact where are the things that actually kill and injury riders? Instead riders watch a series of clips from the perspective of being in a car. If riders were in a car then their risk of death or injury would be significantly different; of all the organisations one would expect the DSA to be most acutely aware of this. Apparently not. The DSA is part of the problem of why the UK has the number of deaths and injuries on the road; it certainly not the solution!

5/. The DSA has introduced the Enhanced Rider Scheme with such a degree of lacklustre and feeble commitment that one must conclude that they never really expected it to work. Rather than take the radical step of making it free to the public and paying training schools to deliver it (and adding a 20% premium the insurance of riders who did not have an ERS certificate – the money from which could go towards funding the training), which would almost certainly be more cost effective at saving money and lives, it has instead chosen to incentivise the public with a small insurance saving (a saving which could be more easily made with a copy of the Yellow Pages and one hour of telephoning). Again this has been a waste of public money with the net result that there has been a paltry take up; lives are not saved and money is wasted.

6/. The DSA has jurisdiction over motorcycle training schools and yet abuses and poor training are still rife. In the 18 years (a generation) of the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) the DSA has focused on one point – that irrespective of a rider’s ability they must do 2 hours of road tuition. This would be laudable if it were not for the facts that this has often been at the expense of quality and is completely arbitrary. There has been a failure to regulate and lead by example. Most, would be motorcycle instructors take three to six weeks of training and practical experience to become qualified to teach CBT. A DSA examiner (if you remove the Health and Safety) takes a course of one and a half days to supervise the delivery of the CBT, even if they have never taught anyone in their whole lives. In other words half a day longer than it takes a DSA examiner to get used to a 50cc more powerful motorcycle. This is just incompetent and complacent.

7/. With all the chaos surrounding the introduction of the new motorcycle test one could be forgiven for concluding that the DSA is attempting to reach its 40% reduction in KSI figures by making it exceedingly difficult to take a motorcycle test (both in terms of expense and distance travelled- 200+ test centres down to less than 40). You have to be seriously deluded to really think that money and distance will put people off riding motorcycles. Prohibition in the USA did not stop people drinking alcohol, rather the industry went unregulated and people broke the law. This is a ridiculous position to take – to make it appear that accident statistics are the result of the “lawless” few by making it difficult for people to comply. All the evidence suggests that the DSA should be taking every effort to make the process of being trained to ride a motorcycle safely easier and cheaper. The fact is that the DSA has no real grasp of what makes a safer rider or how to deliver it. No proper assessments are made and no real understanding of rider safety is implemented into strategy. The current “pursuit” test is over 18 years old (a generation) and apart from some very minor tinkering very little has changed – apart from encouraging people to ride bigger motorcycles (the Direct Access Scheme). This is the legacy which haunts the 600+ people that are killed in UK on motorcycles every year.

8/. Throughout this summer the DSA have sought to deliberately mislead the public by publishing erroneous waiting time figures. On a Friday evening, after the call centres have closed, Deployment has released a few extra tests at each test centre inside the desired waiting time period. On Monday morning before the call centres are open it publishes the waiting times, but by 8:10am on a Monday morning these test have all been sold. This means that out of a 50 hour working week at the call centres for 49 hours and 50 minutes the true waiting time for motorcycle tests at many test centres is over 10 weeks. Yet the DSA publishes figures stating 4 or 5 weeks. This is deliberately misleading and utterly cynical – it cuts right to the heart of the DSA’s management which is all about perceived delivery over substance. One has to wonder if certain people within the DSA receive a “bonus” if the waiting time figures are low.

9/. Is there an adequate explanation for the utter duplicity that is publishing figures for how far the public is from their local test centre while knowing all the while that the public in at least 95% of cases will have to go to a local training school before they can go to a motorcycle test? It is therefore the distance from the training school to the test centre that is relevant. People taking the Direct Access Scheme have to be accompanied by an instructor and the greater proportion of those taking a Restricted licence will attend a training school and use their motorcycle. The point is that the DSA knows this from their own records and yet is prepared to deceive the press and ministers by publishing figures that are misleading.

10/. At the Motorcycle Training School conference held at the National Motorcycle Museum on the 23rd January 2008 aside from the utter farce of explaining where the new test centres would be and quoting figures that in the event were incorrect by nearly 20%. (You said 46 test centres would be ready and in the event 39 will be), there were two other points of note. Firstly, you delivered a speech of such withering banality as to send nearly half the audience to sleep – do you really think that Motorcycle Training Schools are oblivious to the KSI figures and their implication? You were preaching to the converted! And, to top it all, showing true commitment to the cause, you did not stay to answer any questions. Secondly, when Trevor Wedge was asked what it was that the Dutch had done (after he had said the UK worked closely with Europe to reduce accidents) to so dramatically reduce their accident statistics in one year (2003 – 2004) he didn’t know. This frankly beggars belief and one could rest one’s case that the DSA is not fit for purpose on this point alone.

This list could go on ad infinitum but to conclude as a final statement relating to a waste of public money why has the DSA colluded with the DVLA to impose such a ludicrous system of licensing? If you ignore the utterly arcane process of gaining a licence and being road legal (which for a learner rider, often 17 years old, comprises of at least 8 pieces of paper, forms, discs or certificates, simply to take a motorcycle test. Compared to one document, a passport, to enter this country) you are left with the lunacy that is the two part driving licence. Not only is the public still largely ignorant of the need to have both parts of their licence, but now they also need to be aware of mistakes made by the DVLA (forgetting to put on the correct entitlement or “accidentally” removing a category), mixing up duplicates and recently of expiry dates. The number of driving and motorcycle tests (not to mention CBT’s) that do not take place because of this farcical licensing system is outrageous. The results are poor productivity by the DSA and extra expense to the public, and this is largely because no one at the DSA had the common sense to point out the problems and difficulties. Explain to a Select Committee the DSA’s stance on miss-matched licences if you dare! Everyone understands the need to ensure that fraud is stamped out – no one understands how the DSA/DVLA conspired to make such a mess of the current system of licences. In 2007 you admitted to at least 600 referrals for fraud – these were the ones that were detected, so clearly the current system is hardly perfect. We note that, with wry amusement, the DSA “forgot” to make the extra charge for a Saturday test legal, like they “forgot” to make the original CBT certificates expire after three years, and they “forgot” that charging instructors for assessments at Cardington was wrong. It is easy to see how the DSA has “forgotten” what it is they actually supposed to be doing. You have driving examiners who are committed to trying to lower accident statistics and make a difference led by people who are subservient to dead-lines and head-lines, and an absolute level of apathy that is quite breath taking.

Mr. Geoff Morgan stood up in front of the assembled motorcycle training industry on the 23rd January 2008 and exhorted them to “go on holiday” after the 1st October 2008. It is now our turn to take that one step further and say to you – retire, just go!

Yours Sincerely,

William Rodwell
(Managing Director)