YESTERDAY NEW DRIVING licence rules came into effect with members of the public seeking a new license or a renewal now having to visit one of the service’s new centres rather than the motor tax office.
However, the new system experienced some teething problems yesterday, with ‘technical difficulties’ leaving members of the public unable to renew or obtain new licences on what was the first day of the new service.
IT difficulties
The glitch affected all 34 national centre offices, but the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) said the service is expected to operate as normal today. There was also problems with the customer service help line yesterday.
There were criticisms of the service’s failings yesterday after members of the public travelled far distances to some new centres, only to find that the system was down.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Brian Farrell spokesperson for the Road Safety Authority said all the issues from yesterday have been resolved.
‘A lot calmer’
“We had a project meeting today and things are a lot calmer on the ground today. We are monitoring things very closely and we have put more people on the ground where we had delays yesterday. There were teething problems yesterday but those issues have been resolved, so things are a lot calmer today,” he said.
He added that there were also triage people at the centres to help people with application forms and telling them what documents they need.
He said that the important thing for people to do is bring the right documentation with them.
“There have been a few issues with people being unsure of what to bring. You need to bring proof of your PPS number, not just the number itself. Also, people need to make sure they have the right application form,” he said.
Application form
The application form that people used to get in the motor tax office has been replaced. The new application forms have a barcode on them and are scanned into the system. You can get the new forms from the NDLS website, at any garda station and at the new centres.
Applicants can find their nearest centre on the NDLS website or on the NDLS app which is available for both Apple and Android devices.
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