After waiting since 7:30am, she was told to come back on July 28 just for her training class – a whole day spent watching training videos.
Supatra Sutham has been learning to drive for some time and was well prepared for her much-anticipated visit to the Phuket Land Transport Office Department (PLTO), where the tests are conducted.
She arrived at 7:30am with all the necessary paperwork and was expecting to spend the day completing her mandatory traffic law and road safety training. She thought she would then be able to return tomorrow (June 10) for her driving test.
Ms Supatra handed in her documentation and signed in on the daily log. It was explained to her that although the sign on the entrance stated that only 70 people per day were accepted for the training, the office actually accepts 80. She was the 71st person to sign the log today.
However, that’s when the procedure started taking unexpected turns.
The first change in procedures from those previously reported was that it was now necessary to hand over your doctor’s certificate during “the registration stageĢ”. The medical permit is required only when you come in for the training – which was what Ms Supatra thought she was there for, so the doctor’s certificate was duly refused and handed back to her.
Next, everyone on the registration list was sent for an eye examination, where applicants waited until their name was called, one by one.
After Ms Supatra passed the eye test, all her paperwork was handed back to her and she was told to come back on her allocated training day. To her astonishment, on July 28.
Not only did this mean that Ms Supatra spent the morning waiting for basically nothing, but also that by the time her appointment date arrives, her doctor’s certificate will no longer be valid and she will have to pay for another one.
It was not only Ms Supatra who was annoyed with her wasted morning, one teenager, Nicom, said “I should have gone to Phang Nga to do my licence with my friends. Now I will have to wait until next month to do my licence in Phuket.”
PLTO staff told Ms Supatra that a large number of licence applicants arrive each day and that all applicants are given a later training date. Those applying now will have to wait until the end of July to do their training.
“If you come in early and sign the daily log it doesn’t mean you will train on that day. It is impossible. You have to come in and register first then we schedule you for the training session,” said one member of staff who asked to remain anonymous.
The Phuket News contacted both the Bangkok and Cha-am LTOs, who advised us that those new drivers who are registering now are likely to sit their training and do their test at the end of June or early July.
However, it is not only those wanting new licences who will are facing a wait, one woman who had visited the PLTO office today to renew her licence was told that she will have to return on June 11.