Story of a Complaint: Arrived for his practical driving test - and discovered that the examiner was not there (20.7.23)

Following the investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman, which disclosed that the examiner had cancelled the driving test for no good reason, the Licensing Authority reimbursed the complainant for the fee he had paid

A practical driving test was fixed for the complainant at 10:45 at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Jerusalem, which is far from his home. However, when the complainant arrived at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles at the set time, he discovered that the examiner had already left and given notification of the cancellation of the test. The complainant was thus forced to pay the test fee again and fix a new time for the test. 

The Office of the Ombudsman's investigation disclosed that in the course of the practical test the examiners were required to enter various details into the computerized system, such as the identity of the examinee and the time that the test started. In transpired that in this case, the examiner had entered "test cancelled".

Upon its request, the Office of the Ombudsman received the raw data from the computerized system, and it transpired that the examiner had entered "test cancelled" at 10:36, nine minutes prior to the time that the complainant's test was supposed to start, and had then left the premises.

Before the conclusion of the investigation, the complainant had already passed the practical driving test and received his driving license. In light of the Office's findings and the faulty cancellation of the previous test, the complainant received a refund of the test fee that he had paid.

The Office of the Ombudsman did not suffice with this and asked to know what the Licensing Authority intended to do about the defect that had been found - the possibility of entering "test cancelled" before the time that the test was due to start. The Licensing Authority responded that it was planning to make an amendment to the computerized system to prevent this possibility.

The complainant thanked the Office for its assistance.