The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) will be changing the way prospective drivers apply to obtain a learner’s permit and the way they submit applications to sit for practical examinations.

The new system, ADT executive chairman Simon Vella told The Malta Independent on Sunday, will come into force on 1 January.

As matters currently stand, the driving instructor submits an application for a learner’s permit and for a driving practical exam on the client’s behalf.

But the system has led to a series of complaints from learner drivers who believe they are capable of taking the test, but whose instructor does not apply for them - leading them to believe they are being held back so that instructors could make more money from driving lessons.

As from 1 January, learner drivers themselves will have to apply to the ADT for a permit to take lessons – and the cost will remain e23.25. On application, the learner drivers will be given a form containing a list of information they need to know about cars and driving safely. Then they can then apply to sit for the exam – again, directly at the ADT – once they think they have had enough driving experience to take the test.

The cost of the practical exam will remain at e23.25.

Learner drivers will therefore be the ones to decide when to take a driving test, rather than having their instructor decide for them, Mr Vella said.

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Mr Vella for his comments after a number of complaints it received from learner drivers about the way motoring schools – there are 61 licensed with the ADT – milk them dry through charges and fees for driving lessons.

Some drivers complained that had they spent more than e1,000 over six to nine months, and that their instructor kept delaying the practical test even though it was abundantly clear that they were confident enough to pass.

This newspaper also learnt that driving instructors charge a signing-on fee of e70 at the beginning of the course, which is e46.75 more than the ADT charges for a learner driver’s application. Then, when they accompany their client for the test, they charge another e70, which is again e46.75 more than the ADT charges for conducting the test.

In total, driving instructors bill their clients e140 (excluding lessons) when the ADT charges e46.50 (for the learner’s permit and test). Often the implication is that the ADT is charging all that money for the learner’s permit and the exam, when, in actual fact, it is the driving instructors who are taking two-thirds of it.

This situation will change in January, when learner drivers will pay e23.25 for the learner driver’s permit and the same amount again when they apply to take the practical examination, Mr Vella said.

Once they apply to take the test, candidates will be given a date for their exam within three weeks and the exam will be held within another three weeks. Mr Vella said that the last applications for tests using the current method – that is, through driving instructors – will be accepted until 12 December.

Asked whether driving instructors would still charge the extra amount to their clients on their first driving lesson and when they accompany them for the test, Mr Vella said that it is not for the ADT to decide.

But the perception that it is the ADT which is charging such large amounts will in effect be eliminated, as the learner drivers will themselves be paying for the permit and test directly to the ADT.

What the new system will also eliminate are complaints that driving instructors take longer than necessary to apply for the test on behalf of their clients. As from January, it will be the learner drivers who decide when to take the exam.

Some learner drivers also complained to The Malta Independent on Sunday that their instructor was not in the car with them when they took the test.

Mr Vella, however, clarifies that driving instructors are not obliged to be in the car with the candidates who take the practical test, and often it is the client who asks that the instructor is not present. Yet, the instructor should take the back seat if the client so requests, while the examiner sits in the front passenger seat.

During the past week, The Malta Independent on Sunday called several motoring schools to ask how much driving lessons cost and the amount charged for a beginner’s permit and driving test. The reply we always received was a e70 charge for a learner’s permit and the e70 charge for the driving test application, often coupled with the phrase “everybody charges the same”, implying that there is some form of tacit agreement among the driving instructors to ask for the same amount.

It is a different story when it comes to charging for driving lessons. The charges vary from e10 to e12 for 45 minutes, to e12 to e14 per hour, to e18 to e20 per 90 minutes.

According to learner drivers who spoke to The Malta Independent on Sunday, instructors want to make as much money as possible. “There have been many occasions when they insist that more lessons are needed even though it is clear that candidates are ready for the test. This is done for instructors to earn more money from driving lessons.”

As from January, this will now be eliminated.

There have also been occasions when candidates are asked to pay even when they are sick and cannot go for a lesson they had booked. “Unless the instructor is called a day or two before for a lesson to be cancelled – and he or she is able to fill up the time with another candidate – then payment is still demanded for the lesson not taken. Yet, sometimes there are cases when it is not possible to warn the instructor beforehand. What if people wake up sick and have a lesson at 9am?”

This year, up to 8 November, 55 per cent of the candidates who took the driving test failed – 5,404 from a total of 9,777 (see table). Some candidates took the test more than once, and the ADT confirmed that the average of first-time candidates who fail is higher than those who take the exam a second or third time.

The ADT employs eight examiners full time and the list of candidates sitting for the examination is given to them on the same morning. The number of examiners is expected to rise to 13 in the coming months, and Mr Vella did not rule out that more would be recruited at a later stage.

Before taking the practical test, candidates must sit for a theoretical examination, which is carried out by a company subcontracted by ADT. The exam is done on computer and the result is known soon after the candidate completes the test. It is only at this stage that the candidate can apply to take the practical test.

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