Members of the Majorcan Association of Driving Schools are planning a demonstration outside the Tráfico headquarters in Palma in protest at the delays to driving tests. The waiting list is around five months.
The association says that some 4,000 people in Majorca have already passed their theory exams and that there are a further 1,000 from the other islands who are in this situation. Whereas a driving school might have taken ten people per week for the driving test, this number currently equates to 1.3 people.
The state of alarm meant a suspension of tests, and the problem with this backlog is compounded by there being a shortage of examiners. Toni Soto, owner of Autoescuela Express, points out that there were 26 examiners in 2008. There are now sixteen.
The delay in getting tests means that fewer people are taking lessons. This is affecting driving school income. Soto highlights an "unfair situation". He has taken 86 employees out of ERTE and has 47 teachers, but the quota of students per week is down to 59, compared with a previous 242.
Soto anticipates that 50% of driving schools in the Balearics will close. He has twenty, but will be closing five this week. "If the situation continues for two more months, I will close another five."
There is talk of the driving schools "going on strike". Tráfico in the Balearics has been in touch with the association to say that it is working on a solution to the problem.
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