Terrible public services

[Firtreefiona]

I’ve been trying to book a driving test for ages and the best that I can come up with is a test centre 235 miles away in August. And that’s after many, any times of looking at different hours of different days. Is the driving test system the worst public service currently, or are others even worse? Keen to hear of worse public services to make me feel better.

We were granted probate in 2 weeks. I presume you have some sort of issue with the estate/will?
We were also informed by estate agent when had property valued for probate to apply ourselves and not use a solicitor. Going through a solicitor was much slower.

They all have miserable reviews with the wait for a test being the same as for everyone else.

Go onto the site at exactly 6am on a Monday morning - that's when they get released. I got a local test about 5 months after the date of booking and there were lots of options.

I tried this this morning but forgot to set an alarm and have 3 under 5 who slept in so I did too. Logged on at a bit after 7 to be 42,000 in the queue.

I am doing it myself - no solicitor.

I'd love to be able to tell you whether or not there is a problem, but when you ring the helpine all you get is "I'll escalate this for you" and then they hang up. They don't reply to emails. I've made a formal complaint; on the last day of the two weeks they gave themselves to respond they said they'd need to investigate further and have granted themselves an open-ended timetable to do so.

I've had to involve my MP.

Have you tried Newport? Their test center seemed to be permanently empty just a few years ago. When everything around Bristol was booked up, Newport had whole weeks of availability. Might have changed now but worth checking.

Our car needs a new wheel bearing. The pot holes are slowly killing cars.

Completely different public service but the average wait for a Rape trial is 417 days from charge, 499 days if the offender is not kept in prison ahead of the trial. (Figures from Rape Crisis).

If part of the issue with driving tests is that examiners are not paid enough to attract driving Instructors to become examiners then it maybe that the fees need to increase to fund pay rises for the examiners. (I say this as a parent of a teen who will soon start learning to drive).

What evidence do you have for your claim that "much" taxation is "wasted"?