What a waste of resources to renew licence
BECAUSE I insist on retaining my category C driving licence at my advanced age, I must renew it every year after presenting myself for a medical examination, so that my doctor can fill in the form certifying that I am still fit to drive. Having already presented the doctor with a letter from the optician confirming that my eyesight was still adequate, I went to the surgery, had the examination, paid the £120 fee and agreed to return the next day to collect the completed form. When I did so, I was told that my doctor had accidentally filled in a form relating to a different class of driving licence and that she would have to transfer the information to the correct form, which I could collect the following day.
Once I had the medical form, I used an application form for a driving licence that I had around the place and submitted both to the licensing authority, along with a very modest fee. In fact, the payment was rather too modest and I received a letter a few days later asking me to take along the correct fee but more importantly to fill in the correct form, because the one I had used was obsolete.
I wasn't surprised that the form had been redesigned because one of the questions on the old one was ambiguous and could be answered 'yes' or 'no' equally truthfully.
I went down to Bulwer Avenue with the correct fee but as I was filling in the current application form I noticed that the ambiguous question was still the same as on the old form, as were all the other questions.
I only solved the 'spot the difference' puzzle when I realised that government reorganisation for greater efficiency had put the licensing authority in the Environment Department, as a result of which its name had changed slightly.
Presumably the entire stock of forms bearing the old name had been dumped and replaced by ones printed with the new name, but I had made the egregious mistake of using one of the old forms.
Normally it takes four or five days for me to receive a new driving licence but a notice at the office informed me that, due to unusual demand, it could take up to two weeks for me to receive this one. Three weeks later my wife phoned the office to ask what had happened to my licence and was informed that it had been handed over to Guernsey Post for delivery a week earlier. When phoned, Guernsey Post promised to investigate and let us know the situation when we phoned back. When we next called, we were told that my licence had not been delivered and that they could not find it, so would complete a letter admitting that my licence had been mislaid, which we could take to the authority so a duplicate one could be issued.
My wife drove to Envoy House, collected the letter and took it to the licensing authority, expecting to collect the replacement licence. On arrival at Bulwer Avenue, she was told that a replacement licence could not be issued until I completed a new application form.
I then phoned the authority and suggested that, since I had already submitted two forms with the same information, they could perhaps prepare a new licence so my wife could collect it when she took along the third copy of the form. No, preparation of the licence could only start once the new form stating that my licence was lost had been received but the authority had agreed to waive the usual fee because of the circumstances leading to my need for a replacement.
She then had to drive once more to Bulwer Avenue to take in the form and, because I needed the new licence by the end of the week and we could not now trust Guernsey Post to get it to me on time, she then had to return another day to collect the licence.
In order to obtain a driving licence for one year, we have used more paper and petrol than we would normally get through in a week. Aren't the bureaucrats of the Environment department doing a grand job showing us how easy it is to waste resources?
BARRIE PAIGE,
La Haute Maison,
GY6 8BP.
