Disagreement between the Driver and Vehicle Standard Agency (DVSA) and its team of nearly 2,000 driving test examiners will come to a head with strike action as the invigilators take action over 150,000 overdue tests.

Amid claims that the backlog needs more testers, not longer hours, staff across 270 test centres, including Gloucester and Cheltenham's operations, are now set to walk out from next Friday (February 8th) for four days of industrial action.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) served the DVSA notice of strike action which includes driving examiners and customer service centre agents, the final two days of action affecting any PCS members in the DVSA contracted to work weekends. As an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Transport, such matters land on the desk of Forest of Dean MP and Transport Minister Mark Harper.

A spokesman for the DVSA said: "We do not expect this action to affect our heavy vehicle annual test (MOT) service, but we will not know for certain until strike action takes place."

For anyone with annual test booking(s), the union's advice is to proceed as planned.

The DVSA says it has been working with PCS to address concerns raised about the working arrangements for driving examiners and the driving test service provided by DVSA. The government department said an offer to PCS to end the dispute has been rejected.

They added: "It is disappointing that strike action will now go ahead. This will mean the hard work and commitment from colleagues in DVSA to reduce driving test waiting times will be undone have a negative impact on the services we offer our customers.

"We are unable to confirm what level of impact the industrial action might have on our services. Not all DVSA staff are PCS members, and even if they are, they might choose not to go on strike. So, we will not know which staff are participating in strike action until it takes place."

The action comes in the wake of a bid to slash waiting times, which climbed to an average peak of 24 weeks in November 2022, in the wake of Covid. Pre-Pandemic, average wait time from booking was around six weeks.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the pressure on examiners to work longer hours threatens to compromise standards.

Mr Serwotka added: "If Mark Harper (Transport Secretary) was serious about reducing the backlog, he would invest in DVSA, employing more examiners, not just expecting the existing ones to work harder."

The DVSA moved to tackle to the backlog last year by changing rules to stop drivers booking tests before they are ready and lengthening the wait for any retest bookings.

The DVSA has previously pledged to recruit almost 500 new examiners.