On Monday, an NZTA spokesperson told Checkpoint the agency would begin contacting affected drivers this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAffected drivers will be required to re-sit a full practical licence test within 60 days of the notice sent to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese re-tests are required as some practical driving tests carried out by these officers may not have been completed properly or to the required standard, and where we can\u2019t rely on a test result we need to confirm that the driver meets the required standard for the class of licence they hold. Re-testing is the most effective way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the drivers may continue to drive pending the outcome of the required test.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile our investigation has identified concerns with test results which suggest that some tests may not have been completed properly, NZTA can suspend licences only in circumstances prescribed by legislation, such as on medical grounds, following the accumulation of demerit points, or where a court or statutory suspension applies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the director of land transport had powers under the driver licensing legislation to require licence holders to undergo further testing or assessment where there were concerns about their continued fitness, competence, or entitlement to hold a licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why the director is requiring these drivers to re-sit tests, to provide assurance that they meet the required standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
RNZ has seen an email that was sent by NZTA to the commercial transport sector last week.<\/p>\n
In the email, NZTA\u2019s head of commercial transport regulation, Tara Macmillan, said the agency had identified concerns about how practical tests were carried out by a number of VTNZ driver-testing officers.<\/p>\n
Macmillan said 16 current driver-testing officers had been suspended, and a further seven had been stood down.<\/p>\n
Some drivers, including those with Class 2-5 licences may be contacted by NZTA, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most operators, there should be minimal impact. However, there may be some localised disruption, particularly where specialist testing capacity is limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would appreciate your members\u2019 support by encouraging drivers to read and respond to any correspondence from NZTA and, where required, to complete any required testing within the timeframe provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tests occurred throughout the country<\/p>\n
Speaking to Checkpoint earlier, NZTA\u2019s director of land transport, Mike Hargreaves, said it was too early to say exactly what had happened.<\/p>\n
Asked if NZTA suspected the officers may have been getting backdoor payments to pass people, Hargreaves said it was \u201cone of the areas that is going to be covered off in our investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The investigation will also look at whether the officers were working together.<\/p>\n
He said the 650 tests were a \u201c50\/50 split\u201d of passenger vehicles and heavy vehicles.<\/p>\n
Hargreaves confirmed police were involved and that \u201ccharges are possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny number of outcomes are possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the tests were \u201cpredominantly\u201d carried out in Auckland, but were also carried out in a number of places across the country.<\/p>\n
The revelations follow a review of driver licensing for trucks and other heavy vehicles that found persisting weaknesses in regulatory practice.<\/p>\n
The internal review \u2013 conducted in 2024 \u2013 was released to the media in February under the Official Information Act.<\/p>\n
The report highlighted weaknesses in regulatory practices, processes, and systems, including competing priorities, turnover, and IT issues.<\/p>\n
The review was conducted and delivered to the NZTA before serious misconduct, including bribery, was discovered at the VTNZ Highbrook branch in Auckland last year.<\/p>\n
More than 300 people had to re-sit their driving tests after officers allegedly took money in return for passing applicants.<\/p>\n
The officers had allegedly been accepting payments to pass people taking practical driver\u2019s tests since 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, an NZTA spokesperson told Checkpoint the agency would begin contacting affected drivers this week. \u201cAffected drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15211,37254,5971,111,43,139,7805,69,16488,1118,13577,51250,15768,29407,764,61,1299],"class_list":["post-523571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-drivers","tag-licences","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-no","tag-nz","tag-nzta","tag-of","tag-powers","tag-resit","tag-sherwood","tag-suspend","tag-tests","tag-to","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}