An email alert from the DSA notes that from 8 March 2013, people who have only had epileptic seizures while asleep could be considered for a licence after only 1 year instead of the previous 3 years.
Similarly, those whose seizures have not affected consciousness appear to be able to apply for a licence while they are still having these seizures.
I’m not sure what the reasoning is. If it’s medical then I will accept it. Anything else and I’ll have reservations.
An email alert from the DSA says that from 2 April 2013, phone lines for booking tests will only be 
available between 8am and 12pm (instead of the current 8am until 4pm). This is in line with the falling numbers of people booking via telephone.
Booking online is by far the easiest way. You can book your theory test and practical test on the DSA’s site at GOV.UK.
There are still a bunch of radical ADIs who oppose this on the grounds that their “older” pupils might not have access to, or be familiar with, the internet. Quite frankly, those people are likely to have issues with any booking system.
We’ve come a long way since Victorian times. It’s a shame that some people still want to stay firmly embedded in the past, though. The majority of people can easily book via the internet. Those who can’t will be able to use their ADIs to book it for them. There isn’t a problem unless you look for one.
I forgot to post this, but candidates were advised to attend tests as usual today.
My pupil’s test went out, as did four others all at the same time. As has been said for all the other strikes, not all examiners are stupid enough to be members of the PCS union, and of those that are not all of them are stupid enough to get involved in strike action.
In fact, little has been said anywhere about today’s action. PCS needs to get it into its thick, fossilised skull that people don’t care about it.
The BBC local news has covered the first day of tests being conducted out of Nottingham Trent University. No big deal, except for a couple of things on the report worth mentioning
First of all, tests were clearly going out with snow and ice visible on the roads (the Trent car park in particular). I’m pretty certain that on any other day – without the cameras being there – they probably wouldn’t have. Tests were even cancelled for fog last week (and that’s a first for me).
The other interesting thing was the “driving instructor” they interviewed (I used inverted commas there because a proper driving instructor 
would possess business sense whilst simultaneously knowing what they were talking about)..
In response to the BBC’s statement that the numbers of young people taking tests is falling, this stupid idiot claimed that the reason for this was the cost of the theory and practical tests. In particular, by stating that the practical test “costs £65” (Rosemary Thew was also interviewed and pointed out that these prices have not changed for several years).
In actual fact, the practical test DOESN’T cost £65. It costs £62. An instructor should know that, but this one” couldn’t even get such an important detail right – and she did it right in front of the cameras!
Now that she’d identified overall cost as a “problem” to the mummies and daddies out there watching in middle-class, local TV-land, she provided inaccurate data to support her claims.
The simple fact is that the cost of the two tests is less than 10% of the total cost of learning to drive for a typical learner. Over 90% of the expense is on driving lessons. So, having gotten everyone’s attention, and so identifying that costs of learning to drive are “too high”, what does she now suggest? That we ADIs should all cut our lesson prices to reduce the expense of learning to drive?
This woman typifies what is wrong with this industry. Too many idiots are allowed into it who see it as a philanthropic mission instead of a job, and who try to develop mother-child relationships with clients. Get it into your thick skulls: if someone can’t afford driving lessons, then they simply don’t have driving lessons. That’s it. End of story.
Learning to drive IS expensive. Buying an hour of someone’s time for anything is also expensive. That expense isn’t a sign that the person selling the time is charging too much!
Ineffective instructors who don’t have to pay for their car, who do the job to use up some spare time (“now that the kids have left home”), and whose losses are subsidised by the main breadwinner of the house do not represent this industry at all. By opening their stupid mouths on TV they are damaging it further all the time.
The DSA has confirmed the locations and commencement of driving tests from two of Nottingham Trent University’s sites.
The service commences from 11 March 2013. Tests will be available from the Clifton Campus on Mondays and Wednesdays, and from Clarendon Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I must stress that I don’t have any issues, in principle, with doing tests from these sites. I’m not convinced by the government’s “bringing the test to the people” mantra, but that’s another story.
However, the practicalities of this service do worry me a little. In particular, will there be any half-witted ADIs “practising” in the bays when you get there; and how the hell will candidates get off the Clifton campus to do their tests (the A453 is allegedly second only to the M25 in terms of the volume of traffic that goes along it). Indeed, the traffic density on the A453 – it ranges from almost gridlock all the way up to total gridlock for 23 hours of the day (or worse if some prat breaks down or crashes on it) – means that even getting on to the site is a challenge-and-a-half.
And then there are the road works – A453 widening has just started and is scheduled to last TWO YEARS, and Nottingham’s huge white elephant (aka “Phase II of the Tram”) is still more than a year away from completion, resulting in road closures throughout the area (including the City Centre site also being used for tests). So I wonder how many people will be late for their tests as a result?
Instructions on how to arrive are given in the link.
The mind boggles sometimes. The search term “free and cheap franchises” was used to find the blog. What exactly is the person looking for this subject 
expecting? You have to assume they are a new ADI searching for the lowest-cost start-up route, but you then also have to question their business acumen if “free” and “cheap” is their primary consideration.
How on earth do they ever expect to stay in business if this is how they are going to operate? Oh, yes! They’ll drop their prices to get work, too.
They’re on to a loser from Day One.
Unless you get real lucky, business start-ups require money. You cannot do it for nothing if you want to start earning money quickly, and it still takes time to reach stability. Those who try will almost certainly end up failing if they don’t invest at least some money in their venture – and “end” doesn’t have to refer to the distant future, because if you have bills to pay you can’t go for more than a month or two without being able to cover your expenses.
I’ve noticed over the last few months – when I’m out on lessons – the same instructor cars parked empty outside the same houses for most of the day (local franchises or independents, mainly). It’s obviously where the driver lives, and it’s equally obvious that they don’t have much work.
And that’s the situation you’re getting yourself into if you only want “free” or “cheap” when you’re just starting out.
It’s a simple fact that if you’re a new ADI, there’s a greater than 99% chance you won’t survive if you try and do it alone, or cheaply.
An email alert from the DSA, covering Pedestrian Crossings.
Rule 196
Pelican crossings. These are signal-controlled crossings where flashing amber follows the red ‘Stop’ light. You MUST stop when the red light shows.
When the amber light is flashing, you MUST give way to any pedestrians on the crossing. If the amber light is flashing and there are no pedestrians on the crossing, you may proceed with caution.
Remember that “must” in red means you are breaking the Law if you don’t.
The latest edition of Despatch is now available from the DSA (issue 01/2013).
Topics in this issue include the review of foreign languages on tests, using your phone to book tests, ADI registration, and a couple of other stories already covered in alerts.
An email alert from the DSA announces the launch of an improved Online Practical Test Booking System.
It’s designed to work on smartphones and tablets, as well as normal computers.
It doesn’t ask for a Theory Test certificate number unless it can’t find one. That will make things simpler, if nothing else.
An email alert from the DSA is obviously intended to show transparency, and a strong desire to stamp out corruption.
It happened in London in February, and was a joint operation between the DSA’s Fraud & Integrity Team and the Metropolitan Police. An examiner, ADI, and four test candidates were arrested. Consequently, 100 driving licences are being revoked.
The operation was shown on BBC News, which you can watch here. It isn’t available for embedding.