LOUIS TRICHARDT - Frustration on the part of members of the public centres around the testing for driver's licences at the testing grounds of the Makhado Municipality.

Apparently obtaining a driver's licence becomes a nightmare in terms of the time that applicants have to take off from work or school. It could consume a whole day or more.

The owner of a driving school confirmed this week that his candidates often have to wait for a whole day to be tested and sometimes wait in vain. A candidate consequently has to make another appointment, which may only be in four or five week's time.

A major obstacle seems to be the time fixed for the appointment. On the receipt that is issued to the applicant by the municipal offices, a certain time, for instance 11:00 may be stipulated. If the drivers licence candidate is fortunate enough to go through a driving school, he soon finds out that he has to report at 07:30 at the testing station and avail himself for the whole day. At the testing station the candidate quickly realises that there is no such thing as an appointment at eleven sharp. He forms part of a group that will stand around or sit, if he is lucky enough to get a chair, for hours on end.

A major problem appears to be that testing officers start to work late, anything from half an hour up to one and a half hour. In that time one to three candidates could have been tested. Some driving schools think of the days in the past when all their candidates were always tested on time. Lunch times are sometimes prolonged with a quarter of an hour up to three quarters of an hour. Other days testing is stopped early. An eyewitness reported the scenario where an applicant who had to sneak time off work, was told at three o'clock that the testing officer was too tired to test him. His appointment was scheduled for three o'clock.

The exhaustion of the testing officer leads to the next problem, an apparent lack of staff or possibly lack of proper planning or management. Driving school officers who often visit the testing station notice that sometimes one testing officer run around between the learner licence tests and the driver's licence testing. One driving school officer said that the testing officers can be commended for their friendliness and understanding approach, but that their pleasant attitude does not exempt them from working full hours.

Apart from these frustrations, obtaining a licence has become a costly exercise. The fee for the learner licence is up from R119 to R132 and that for a driver's licence from R168 to R180. The fee is paid twice, once with the application and again on obtaining the licence.

Another complaint from candidates who undergo the driver's licence test is that some testing officers do not allow them to stop their vehicle while performing the reverse parking termed alley docking. According to the Road Traffic and Transport Legislation Volume 2 Updated on 31 January 2002 the candidate is allowed to stop the vehicle during that test as long as the candidate performs a full observation following each stop. Regarding this point Mr Thomas Ndwambi, Manager: Protection Services explained on Wednesday that applicants often want to stop and then go forward again, which is not allowed.

The guiding poles at alley docking seem to be another dilemma. According to the legislation the guiding poles should be put on the lines during the test and not outside the lines. It was time and again observed that the guiding poles are put outside the line, which is actually detrimental to the candidate, because the guiding poles are actually the driver's indication of when the wheels of the vehicle touch the line. If the guiding poles are in the correct place, which is on the line, then the side mirror will hit the guiding poles when the wheels touch the line. A candidate is failed when the wheels touch the line as well as when the side mirror touches a guiding pole.

Mr Ndwambi assured the public that the situation has normalised at the testing station and that applicants will be tested at their appointed times. He said that if an applicant's appointment is at 07:30, he or she should be tested at that time. He said that there are two testing officers and the number of applicants per day is limited.

"The area is under control," Ndwambi said.