The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DISGRUNTLED motorists yesterday lamented the long waiting time to obtain their driver’s licences, amid concerns that the Road Traffic Department’s driver’s licence printing machine is not working.

A number of motorists at the department’s temporary Thomas A Robinson Stadium location yesterday morning, though wishing to remain anonymous, told The Tribune of their troubles in obtaining a new copy of their driver’s licence, which senior Road Traffic officials confirmed was due to malfunctioning printing machines.

One man told The Tribune that he had returned to the stadium every day since Thursday to obtain his licence, only to be told to come back at a later date each time. Complaining to The Tribune while in line at the stadium yesterday, the man said he was unsure what he would be told once he reached the service window.

Road Traffic Controller Ross Smith told The Tribune that while he acknowledges the matter can be “frustrating”, the issues with the printing machines are “age old”, and actually highlights the need for the department to shift to its new $8m automated system.

“People are complaining about it, but that is an age-old problem,” Mr Smith said yesterday. “That didn’t just start yesterday. That has been the problem in the department for ages. It seems as if people just trying to talk about negative things as we try to roll out the new and more up-to-date system.

“It can be frustrating, and I am not running away from that. But I don’t want people to believe that it’s something that just happened overnight. This is something that has been happening for a very long time.”

He added: “The problem will be fixed with the new system, which will be rolled out in December. But we must not look at it as something that has just happened yesterday or just happened this week. It has always been like that. And we will seek to correct that.”

When asked what the department would do to combat the issue, Mr Ross said: “What we’re doing about it, we stay here late at nights to ensure that as many persons as we can accommodate are taken care of.

“We stay till about 10 o’clock every night. If the machine goes down, we can come in on weekends as well, and make sure that we get as many of those in as well. (Monday) night we left at 10 o’clock,” he said adding that staff would do the same thing last night.

“We will try not to put people at risk. If people come to us and tell us they have a medical issue and they’re travelling, we’ll do those ones first. So we look after the customer. But we would like for them to know that this is not a recent issue, it’s been with us for a very, very long time.”

The implementation of the Road Traffic Department’s $8m automated system, which eliminates handwritten vehicle information discs in a bid to streamline the licensing and registration processes, has repeatedly come under fire from irate motorists for the lack of direction displayed at every stage of the implementation process.

Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin has defended the new system as a major and critical investment, and has maintained that while the initial launch exercise may be frustrating to deal with, the temporary inconveniences would pay off in the long run with its implementation.

The department has been relocated temporarily to the National Stadium’s eastern grandstand after damage to the Clarence A Bain building following Hurricane Matthew.