Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency denied problems with voiceover for driving theory test

What happened

In mid-2012 Mr M took the driving theory test with an Urdu voiceover. The voiceover to one of the questions in the multiple choice section was mistranslated. Mr M wrote to DVSA to complain that the mistranslation had confused and distracted him in the hazard perception section and he wanted to appeal against the test score. DVSA said that there was no audio for that section of the test so the Urdu voiceover could not have affected his score. Mr M sent another six letters to DVSA but each time it told him that it was not aware of any problems with the voiceover and the test result could not be changed.

In mid-2013 the Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA) reviewed the complaint and found out that there were problems in the translation, which DVSA knew about, and the voiceover had been corrected shortly after Mr M took his test. DVSA had not told Mr M about this. The ICA recommended that DVSA pay him £50 as compensation for its poor complaint handling. The ICA found that Mr M would have been confused and distracted by the mistake but did not believe that it would have affected his performance in the hazard perception test. DVSA decided not to pay Mr M any compensation.

What we found

We agreed with the ICA's findings. The voiceover was incorrect but DVSA did not tell Mr M and its letters to him did not address his concerns. We also found that the mistake would have distracted Mr M but we agreed with the ICA's view that it was not possible to say that it would have directly affected his score in the hazard perception test.

Putting it right

The DVSA agreed to apologise to Mr M, waive the fee should he retake the driving theory test, and pay him £50 compensation for the inconvenience caused by its poor complaint handling.