RSA received complaints from more than 2,000 learner drives about driving test last year

The complaints included being failed for a tear inside the insurance disc and penalisation for a pedestrian walking out in front of the car.

One annoyed driver wrote of how they could not tak their test due to a small tear inside their insurance disk.

In an email, they wrote: “This was an accident, and [I] didn’t even know this existed.

“This same car and insurance disc was used by a friend of mine in a test back in [redacted] and there were no issues then as [they] passed so I’d like to know why the instructors have different rules it seems when going out on the road."

Similarly, another driver was not allowed to do their test due to the green stripe of the insurance disk turning blue.

They said: "This colour has faded due to sunlight exposure.

“I’m not expected to pay €120 again on the basis of this?”

Among the complaints, one driver wrote of how they had lost all of their confidence after they had failed the test with more than double the mistakes they had expected.

They wrote: “I feel I was tested very unfairly even getting a mark for someone walking out in front of the car and I was actually slowing before they done it … but no, apparently I reacted too late.”

One driver speculated that the RSA have a system in place to reach a certain "quota" of failed drivers, which the organisation have wholeheartedly rejected as “completely inaccurate and entirely false."

According to the RSA they had received about 140 complaints a month during 2024, but this accounted for less than 1% of all the tests conducted.

A spokesperson for the RSA said: “Complaints have decreased by 30 percent compared to last year, despite an increase of approximately 41,000 additional tests conducted.

“In fact, complaints represent less than 1% (0.79%) of the total number of tests carried out.

 “[We are] committed to treating all complaints fairly, in confidence and without bias. We also endeavour to issue a response or resolve a customer's issue as quickly as possible.”