A: 5 Women share 158 tests
It is reported that women in a small Yorkshire town have been revealed as the country's worst learner drivers.
5 female drivers in Heckmondwike have taken 158 practical test between them, costing almost £10,000.
One took 34 attempts to succeed, two others needed 32 tests, whilst 2 others struggled through 29 tests before passing. This information was revealed by a Freedom of Information request to the DSA.
B: Meanwhile a 28-year-old woman from London has set a new record for flunking the driving theory test, having sat the test 110 times and shelling out £3,410 in the process of trying to pass.
C: Crime: The scandal was laid bare in a shocking ITV documentary last night at 10.35 on ITV. Thousand of unqualified drivers are putting lives in danger on our roads. They have never passed any driving test , theory or practical. Many have no clue about the Highway Code and little or no experience of driving. And once they have their paperwork and their keys in the ignition they have a licence to kill. And a third group bribe corrupt examiners to give them an undeserved pass. Exposure: Who's Driving on Britain's Roads? showed that driving while unqualified is not just dangerous in theory - it kills innocent people. So who are these crooks taking cash to put millions of people at risk? One is Sara Gellner-Ward, of High Wycombe, Bucks, who was caught on CCTV turning up at test in place of learners who had paid her up to £1,500 a time. When police raided her home they found credit card bills for nearly 40 tests she had booked in just three months. Her accomplice Christopher Buckland, of nearby Aylesbury, went to centre's in Derby and Grantham on the same day to take theory tests for other people. The gang admitted arranging 382 driving tests and the pair were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Driving Standards Agency and jailed for two years. Even more audacious was Gageen Singh, a disqualified drink-driver who travelled all over Britain impersonating candidates for the theory and practical driving tests. He charged £3,000 a time and for that they got a master of disguise who tailored his clothes and his headgear to suit the person he was impersonating. He might turn up in a turban, a flat cap or a wig or even grow a full beard to match the photograph on the provisional licence. When the DSA tracked him to his Surrey home they found £51,700 in cash and a paper trail that showed he sent between £5,000 and £9,000 to India every month. He's the man who single-handedly put 84 unqualified drivers on to Britain's roads. Singh was convicted on nine charges of fraud, jailed for 14 months and banned from driving for two years. But not all fraudsters operate outside the system. Driving examiners Bushra Chughtai and Andrew Cursley from Nuneaton, Warks, used their privileged position to charge candidates £1,000 for a guaranteed pass no matter how badly they drove. In an elaborate scam they were fed carefully vetted candidates by driving instructor Mahomed Ibrahim. Some "learners" did not even have to turn up to pass. Chugtai gave the green light to one candidate who had collided with a parked car. Cursley passed another despite having to grab the steering wheel and swerve back to the right side of the road during the test. When they were caught, Chugtai was jailed for three years, Cursley for 18 months and Ibrahim for 15 months.
D: From January 2012 the multiple choice part of the driving theory test will be made up of questions which are no longer published in learning materials. The reason behind the move is to stop candidates from being tempted to simply memorise theory test Q & A and learn by rote.
So we have published new learning materials with a lot more content and references to source material to help candidates prepare for the test and life on the road. The materials still include questions and answers covering all topic areas for revision purposes and give explanations for every revision question, to help candidates fully understand the answer.
E: No changes are being made to the format of the theory test, the time allowed or the pass mark. Provided candidates revise sufficiently, there should be no difficulty with the test.
Find lost theory test certificate numbers:
F: You may wish to let your pupils know that if they lose their theory test pass certificate number they can now find it online.
The DSA has launched a service on the Directgov website that allows candidates to use their name, driving licence number and date of birth to find a lost number. It takes around two minutes to use the new service, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Until now it has only been possible to do this by telephone during office hours.