5:05pm Friday 10th July 2009
By Thom Airs
A LEARNER driver has been driven to despair after an examiner refused to test him — because his dad’s car was too dirty.
Teenager Jack Hyde arrived at the Oxford Driving Test Centre in Cowley in his dad’s five-year-old Volkswagen Golf, but he failed to even set foot in the vehicle after the examiner pointed to croissant crumbs on the seat and refused to get in.
Jack, 18, and his father, John, of Berrick Salome, near Wallingford, claimed they had cleaned the car inside and out on the morning of the test having returned home from a trip to France the previous night.
Mr Hyde senior said there were two bottles of water on the back seat and a “tiny amount” of croissant crumbs on the front seat.
There were also dog biscuits under the seat used to train the family pet.
But the examiner cancelled the test and refused to offer a refund, leaving the pair no option but to drive home.
Mr Hyde has now complained in writing to the Driving Standards Agency, which organises tests, and Jack now faces a six-week wait to retake his test.
After initially failing at the beginning of the year, this episode was the third time in a row Jack’s test had been cancelled.
Standing water from heavy rain and an examiner’s illness twice delayed his chance to throw away his L-plates in the past five months.
Referring to the latest incident, Jack said: “I turned up and everything was normal. Then, as soon as he opened the passenger door, he said ‘I can’t take you out in this’. I couldn’t believe it.
“He said he came to work in suit trousers and expected to sit on a tidy seat.
“It wasn’t even particularly dirty. There were old stains that you get in any car, but they wouldn’t come off on anyone’s clothes. I’d failed a test in Oxford a couple of months before and the car was no cleaner. That examiner didn’t mention it, or even say I should make sure the car was clean because other examiners might be picky.
“It’s really annoying. He could have at least given us five minutes to clean it, but there was just no negotiation.
“I know I may not have passed, but it has ruined my summer because it’s a big thing to be able to drive.”
Mr Hyde senior said: “I shudder to think, if they fail you for this then nobody would even pass their test with a normal car, you’d have to buy a new car to do it.
“It was a normal family car that I had cleaned at the car wash and that Jack had tidied up inside that morning.”
Last night, a spokesperson for the Driving Standards Agency said: “If the candidate makes a complaint or asks for a refund, we’ll look into it when we receive it.”
tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk
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