BALLARAT might be on the verge of a huge taxi shortage, with almost 20 per cent of the city’s taxi drivers expected to lose their licence because of a behaviour test some in the industry are calling “ridiculous”.
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The driver behaviour test is designed for those who have been a taxi driver for less than five years and, according to Ballarat Taxis Co-operative chairman Stephen Armstrong, it is fundamentally flawed.
One Ballarat driver has already been hit hard by the test. On Monday, Chris Andrew will join the queue at Centrelink after he failed the test despite studying hard.
“I thought I had done pretty well because I had studied and we had some really good in-house teaching,” he said.
“The main issue for me is there is no textbook provided by the TSC (Taxi Services Commission). Normally, they would give you a textbook and you would study up on it and then do the test.”
Mr Andrew is at a loss as to why he failed and was simply told he didn’t pass, with no scores or answers given as feedback.
He said he found some of the questions ambiguous with multiple correct answers.
Mr Armstrong said due to the number of drivers who would most likely fail the test, it would result in a drop in service level in Ballarat.
“Our issue is, Chris has been a driver here for two years (and) we haven’t had one customer complain about him; he has been an excellent driver. You only get good reports and, because he has failed this test, like 99 per cent of other people who have tried to sit it, as of Monday he is out of a job,” he said.
“I could understand if Chris had driven for two or three years and we had a couple of complaints about him. Then OK, make him sit the test and we need to tutor him, but it is just not the case.
“Chris is the first one we have come across, but we think over the next six months we will probably have another 15 to 20 per cent of our workforce face the same situation and, the way it is going, they will fail as well.
“There is going to be a real shortage of drivers which is going to have an effect, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.”
Mr Armstrong even went to the length of sending two of his more experienced drivers and trainers to Melbourne to complete the test to better help others who would need to take part. Both of these experienced drivers failed the test.
“We sent them down and said, ‘get as much information as you can so we can teach these guys what they need to know’, and they both came back gobsmacked,” he said.
TSC spokesman Jaime Collins said the test had been designed to assess driver’s skills in key areas.
“The test has been designed to improve standards across the industry to address rising complaints from the public about taxi drivers and lowering standards across the taxi industry,” he said.
“Study materials and other support materials are available from the TSC website to assist in preparing for the test.”
matthew.dixon@fairfaxmedia.com.au