A Colomiers driving school has just suffered an administrative closure. After investigation and control, it accumulated serious operating anomalies.
This is a strong signal that the State wanted to give to some unscrupulous driving school managers inclined to make profits to the detriment of their customers. A driving school in Colomiers, Connect, has just been sanctioned after numerous anomalies were identified in its operation. The case began several months ago when agents from the departmental directorate of territories, in charge of issuing and managing driving school approvals, looked into this case.
The Prefecture details the problems raised as follows: “Presentation of candidates for driving license exams with particularly low levels of driving; vehicles used both for practical training and for driving license examinations with mechanical defects likely to endanger the safety of their occupants; volumes of candidates presented for driving exams not compatible with training capacities, in particular during the third quarter of 2020 ”.
In practice, in two months the driving school, which employs only two instructors, would have presented 180 people for the driving license examination, many of whom were subject to cancellation or invalidation of the license. . False certificates of passing the Highway Code (it would never have been passed or would have been passed under non-regulatory conditions) were provided. “There were even candidates who arrived behind the wheel of cars… laments a professional. There was not really a dangerous vehicle but a vehicle which did not comply with the administrative plan ”.
“To do the housework”
The investigation was quickly deepened in order to verify the way in which the manager “trained” the candidates for the license. This involved verifying compliance with the program, the use or not of regulatory educational documents and the compliance of contracts signed by the students.
On the strength of substantiated suspicions, the State services carried out a joint control operation in the driving school at the end of January under the aegis of Codaf (operational anti-fraud committee). The finding was final, the establishment fell under administrative closure and prefectural approval was withdrawn.
For Yann Thomas, president of driving schools at the National Council of Automobile Professionals of Haute-Garonne, “the fact that a school is pinned, it helps to clean up”. And to encourage these initiatives: “Unfortunately, there are too few controls in the outskirts of Toulouse because it is more difficult to move around. For the public’s confidence, this is important ”. He emphasizes: “98% of driving schools are doing their job, moreover there is only one pinned out of the 250 in the department”.
For Yann Thomas, the implementation of a “quality label will make it possible to check more often. Today, state action, in my opinion, is sometimes too insignificant. We let situations continue ”. As for the manager of the columérine driving school, he could, after this administrative sanction, be the subject of criminal proceedings. In unison with the CNPA, other organizations such as Unidec welcome the initiative and the sanctions.
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