2.29 The emergence of lengthy waiting times for vehicle testing and the measures taken to alleviate waiting times had a major impact on DVTA's customers and their satisfaction with the vehicle testing service:
• booking arrangements - the level of customer satisfaction with booking arrangements fell to 68 percent in 2003-04, compared with the key business target of 92 percent. Although this increased to 82 per cent in 2004-05, it still fell short of the 92 percent target;
• customer complaints - the number of customer complaints about booking arrangements increased from 96 in 2000-01 to 206 in 2003-04. Similarly, while formal complaints by customers about waiting times had been virtually non-existent in previous years, almost 200 were received in 2003-04 (although, as DVTA undertakes over 500,000 vehicle tests annually, the level of these complaints is relatively low); and
• overall satisfaction - customers' satisfaction levels with their overall experience of the test also reduced, falling from 95 percent in 2002 to 88 per cent in 2003.
2.30 The outcomes described above indicate the level of inconvenience experienced by both private and business motorists between 2002-03 and 2004 - 05. Because of the delays that resulted from the industrial action (see paragraph 2.4), many found themselves unable to use their vehicles legally, in the absence of a valid MOT certificate. To address this situation, in August 2004, DVTA introduced certificates of temporary exemption, which permit a vehicle to be driven on the road without a valid test certificate for the period in which motorists await a date for the vehicle test. Some 520,000 of these certificates have been issued between August 2004 and December 2005, and DVTA envisages that their use is likely to continue until March 2006. In addition to the need to clear the backlog following the end of the industrial action, DVTA told us that the continued use of these certificates has been necessary because of the need to re-deploy flexible examiners (see paragraph 2.8) to deal with a backlog in practical driving tests. This was exacerbated by a reluctance by vehicle examiners to take up the option of increased overtime working then required to meet demand for vehicle tests.
2.31 Despite the problems with long waiting times, a 2002 DVTA survey, undertaken during roll-out of the new equipment, indicated high customer satisfaction levels with the vehicle test procedure for both the MOT2 equipment (95 percent), and the old testing equipment (94 percent). Further surveys, carried out in respect of 2003-04 and 2004-05, after all test centres had been re-equipped, found that satisfaction levels had fallen slightly, but remained high, at 91 and 86 percent respectively.