Thousands exploit driving test scam

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of motorists across Britain have paid fraudsters to sit their driving test for them, raising serious concerns over road safety, a government agency said on Saturday.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA), which runs the test system, said it had launched 1,200 investigations, with some suspects sitting hundreds of tests before being arrested.

Fraudsters charge learner drivers hundreds of pounds to take their test, passing themselves off as the person pictured on a provisional licence. The scam involves both the written theory test and the 40 minute drive with an examiner.

"It's been a growing problem for about the last three years, but it still affects less than one percent of the all tests we do," a DSA spokeswoman said. "We always investigate as thoroughly as we can and we always aim to get a prosecution."

The DSA organises 2 million driving tests each year. The current pass rate is 42 percent.

The head of the DSA's anti-fraud team Andy Rice said the scam could put the public at risk and must be stopped.

"There are potentially tens of thousands of people on the road who shouldn't be driving," he told the BBC. "It is something that we need to eradicate."

Last week, two men from Oldham were convicted at Manchester Crown Court of supplying illegal driving licences.

Shazad Akhtar, 34, was sentenced to 200 hours' community service after pleading guilty to 22 counts of obtaining and attempting to obtain driving licences by deception.