Driving test examiners kick off month of strikes in Scotland amid huge backlogs

Driving test examiners across the UK kicked off a month-long series of rolling strikes on Tuesday.

A national strike ballot on pay, pensions, jobs and cuts to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme was run by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union in November.

Driving examiners and people working at the Rural Payments Agency are the first to take action.

They will be followed by those working for the National Highways, the Border Force and a number of offices in the Department for Work and Pensions.

From the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), 92% of union members voted for strike action on a nearly 70% turnout – crossing the required legal threshold of 50%.

The strikes, over a 10% pay rise, pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms, began on a rolling regional basis in Scotland on Tuesday.

DVSA employees will picket in Dundee, Aberdeen, Livingston, Musselburgh, Inverness, Kirkcaldy and Linwood over the next two weeks.

The strike action is expected to affect car driving tests, motorcycle tests, vocational tests, specialist vehicle driving tests, approved driving instructor tests, ADI standard checks and moped and motorcycle compulsory basic training.

Theory tests are expected to be unaffected.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is the start of the most sustained strike action by civil servants for a generation.

“They have been offered just a 2% pay rise at a time when inflation is running at over 10%.

“They are determined, they are strong and they been left with no other way of expressing their concerns about the cost-of-living crisis than to take strike action.”

He added: “For the government’s own workforce to be reduced to using foodbanks because they can’t afford to buy food or burning candles at home because they can’t afford to turn their lights on is nothing short of a scandal.

“Rather than trying to tighten anti-trade union laws, attacking the unions and avoiding responsibility for the mess they’ve caused, the government should address the real issue faced by hundreds of thousands of workers, and put some money on the table to resolve the dispute and, more importantly, help its own workforce survive the winter.”