Shocking new figures have just been released highlighting that there have been an increasing number of people who have been attempting to cheat in an effort to pass their driving test.
This increasingly popular method of trying to cheat the system involves the hiring of people who look like the person sitting the test to take it for them.
Dramatic Increase
The figures indicate that there have been in excess of 670 cases reported so far in 2014-
2015. This is twenty per cent higher than the previous year, according to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
As reported in the Metro –
“Figures published by the DVSA following a Freedom of Information request by the Times newspaper have revealed the number of ‘impersonation investigations’ for each financial year over the last decade.
From April to the end of December 2014, there were 677 reported cases, compared with 554 for the whole of 2013/14 and 628 in 2012/13.
Some 188 arrests have been carried out so far in 2014/15, while there were 55 convictions for fraud offences. Thirty seven people have been jailed and 97 driving licences revoked, according to the figures.
The highest number of reported cases in the last ten years was 816 in 2011/12, but that total could now be surpassed with figures for the last three months of the current financial year still to be added.”
For more on this story, please visit – http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/26/learner-drivers-are-hiring-lookalikes-to-cheat-their-tests-5036635/
Taking Steps To Combat This Problem
Peter Roger, the Chief Examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motorists has been quoted as saying –
“You’re likely to have one person taking lots of peoples driving tests”. Mr Roger continued to say “the only way” to know how many people are using lookalikes to cheat is “by how many you catch”.
For more on the official reaction to these new figures, please take a moment to listen to the following soundbite on the BBC’s website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hqjv0
