A BALLARAT taxi driver will keep her right to drive cabs after challenging the Victorian Taxi Services Commission over an “unfair” test question that puts in doubt the reliability of the ‘‘knowledge’’ exam in place since last June.
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Aimee Knight, who has been a driver for several years, twice failed the knowledge test she had to pass to keep her accreditation.
Ballarat Taxi Co-operative chairman Stephen Armstrong said the ambivalence of the question came up when they talked through the test with her.
“We sat down and had a debrief, then she took (the question) directly to the commission,” he said.
The Taxi Services Commission (TSC) recognised Ms Knight’s complaint and removed it from her result. This meant she had answered 85 per cent of the questions correctly, and passed.
One Ballarat man already hit by the test is Chris Andrew, who has been unemployed for two weeks following a failed attempt to renew his accreditation.
“(This issue) astounds me. I really found an intransigent sort of attitude by (the commission),” he said.
Mr Andrew’s anger is principally directed towards the lack of study material for people who have done the test since June.
A resource book will be available on February 8.
“My main thing all along is that the learning resource for studying is not going to be available until next month,” he said.
“I don’t understand how you can sit a test without being able to study for it.”
Mr Andrew said he found some of the questions ambivalent, but because there was no feedback from the commission, he could not challenge the result.
He is now waiting on an interim accreditation that will allow him to drive in rural areas (Ballarat is classified as urban) before he can resit the test.
“They say there’s a 10-week period to absorb the learning resource, as well, so I won’t be able to take it until April,” he said.
A commission spokesman said it had removed the vague question highlighted by Ms Knight from the test, and would investigate how it affected other drivers.
“It is not expected that any more questions from the question bank will require significant change,” he said.
“As soon as this matter was brought to our attention, the TSC began investigating the impact on other drivers. No other drivers have been detected to date.”
Mr Andrew said the “fairest” thing following the test would be to extend his urban accreditation until he can resit the knowledge test.
According to the commission, six drivers passed the knowledge test on the most recent sitting, January 16. It is not clear how many took the test, but 75 “passed at least one module” of the test.
alex.hamer@fairfaxmedia.com.au