A failed driving test applicant began punching walls and kicked a door while another unleashed a volley of abuse at a tester for refusing to conduct an exam in a car that stank of cigarettes.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) said since the beginning of last year they’ve recorded 85 accidents involving driving tests, 15 near-miss events, and 38 cases involving abuse of staff.
On five separate occasions, gardaí had to be called to investigate, including one serious incident where two testers received threatening letters to their home.
The RSA also said there had been multiple cases where a failed candidate had made “accusations of racism” according to a log of incidents they provided under FOI.
A report on one incident earlier this year said a test candidate had become verbally abusive after being told they had failed.
An account of it said: “Tester proceeded to write out the statement of test outcome and when it was handed it to the applicant it was scrunched it up and started shouting and using abusive language towards tester again.
“Tester got up and walked away again, but this time [the] applicant landed punches on the walls and kicked the door.”
There were other dangerous incidents out on the road including one candidate who turned the wrong direction into oncoming traffic right beside a test centre.
“Another driver had to take avoiding action to avoid a collision,” said a note of the incident.
In another case, a tester had to intervene after a child was almost hit by an applicant while another staff member complained of a near catastrophic accident.