A driving instructor has defended the decision of a test examiner who reportedly failed a girl because of some rubber shavings on the seat of her car, ruling the car to be ‘too dirty’.
The 17-year-old was all set to go on her test when the invigilator called it off before she’d even so much as got behind the wheel.
The girl had waited months to get a test, and bought her first car in the meantime, but the examiner wouldn’t even get into the vehicle at Blackpool Test Centre because – they said – the car was too dirty, which is against the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s rules regarding Covid-19.
That’s why she was failed.
Her dad Paul insisted that the car – which belonged to her instructor – was ‘spotless apart from a few tiny bits of rubber from when the instructor had rubbed something out of his diary’.
He added: “The filings weren’t on the seat or anywhere where the examiner would be sitting. It wasn’t like there were crisp packets and empty tins everywhere, it’s ridiculous.
“They spent about 10 minutes trying to discuss it and sort it out, but got nowhere.
“So, she’s failed without even driving the car, and there’s no way of getting the money back. She was distraught, in floods of tears.
“I can’t see a reason why he couldn’t get into the car.”
Well, this morning another driving instructor called Noel Gaughan appeared on Good Morning Britain and sided with the examiner’s decision not to enter the car.
Sort of, anyway.
He said that the examiner is right not to get into the car if it is dirty, and that could be a distraction, but added that he keeps a tiny vacuum cleaner in the back of his car in case situations like this arise.
Gaughan said: “It is right. It's a work environment for the examiner, and obviously for the instructor and person learning to drive and you got to have a nice clean car.
“You don't get distracted by having bottles and cans and paper all over the car.
He went on to explain: “I don't know if they've actually failed, it might have been put down as test not completed, but it’s the same result pretty much.
“They'll have to wait another long time for a new test.”
When it was pointed out that there were just a few rubber shavings in the car, Gaughan continued: “You have to have a limit on what is allowable or not allowable.
“Whether it is rubber shavings or cans or whatever it might be that is a distraction obviously for the examiner, and for the learner driver.
“What the instructor could have done or should have done was have a little mini-vacuum cleaner, took two seconds to vacuum it up and job done.
“That’s what I do, I have a little vacuum in the back of the car.
“I think of the examiner, [it] shows a little respect and it’s important.”
That won’t please the teenager’s father, who was still livid at the examiner’s decision.
He said: “At the end of the day, these people are civil servants and they need to be accountable.
“There’s such a backlog of people wanting to take their test, and this is making it worse.
“We live in a rural community, we don’t have buses coming passed. She will be coming to the end of college in summer, and her job prospects will be limited if she can’t drive.
“Not only that, but this is one of the most nerve-wracking things a teenager does, it’s one of those stand-out moments in your life, and this has just made it worse.
“She’s saved up for this for a long time, she’s saved up herself for her first car, and this is so unfair.”
Featured Image Credit: ITV/Good Morning BritainTopics: Cars, Weird, TV and Film, Good Morning Britain
Tom Wood