Some months ago I was all fired up and ready to spill blood to be proven right at the result of a less than fair driving test. “Appeal” were the cries from the audience and so I set about doing just that. “You’re mad” came more cries, although these were stifled quickly by the more aggressive appeal mongers. I visited the district court, talked with some rather unhelpful people, talked to several driving instructors who have seen this kind of thing before and one resounding answer came back. Something along the lines of “You could appeal… but I wouldn’t“. I even got that opinion from a member of the Gardai, who advised me to more or less smile and nod.
Eventually, and after several months of to’ing and fro’ing, the resounding advice that came clear was to apply again and forget about the appeal process. Yes I got shafted royally and yes it was unjust and all that but if I were to appeal and be successful, the most I could hope for was to get a free re-test. Imagine how unjust and one-sided the tester would be then! Better to start with a clean slate and no predjudice than to be labelled as a troublemaker. Best I could do was to make it known on the application form that I did not under any circumstances want to be tested by the same rotund assfork that tested me the first time. I didn’t phrase it like that, but I reserve the right to do so at a later stage. The moral of the story would seem to be “Don’t complain about anything in Ireland, it’ll get you nowhere anyway.”
Ouch! That was bad luck on your part. The instructor should have been awake!
I’d qualify that last sentence, “Don’t complain about anything Government related in Ireland, it’ll get you nowhere anyway.”
I find that complaining nicely, and firmly helps a lot when it’s a private business involved. Unless it’s “Murphy’s side of the road carpet sale” in which case they’ve probably moved their Hi-ace vans on by the time you discover the fault…
I bet there’s a photo of you up in the canteen of the test center already
Hi just read your post (found the url on boards.ie). Did you go to the District Court and get a FREE retest?
Nope. Got all the forms filled out and was ready to go. Talked to friendly solicitor who more or less told me not to bother. Then spoke to a Garda supt. who in a direct way told me to drop it as I’d have no joy. Turned out the same thing happened to his daughter and nothing could be done about it.
That drove it home; If the daughter of a Garda Superintendant can’t get justice in good old corrupt Ireland, nobody can.
Instead, I’ve resigned myself to spending the rest of the testers life bitching about him to anyone who ever mentions the subject of driving tests to me. It’s a vocation….