Cabbie has to take grammar test to get a job
WHEN a former cab driver decided to renew his licence, he expected tests on his experience, area knowledge and driving skills.
So imagine 50-year-old Laurence Kirk’s amazement when he found himself sitting a GCSE English exam.
Questions included spotting grammatical errors in a text about a fictional football match.
The pass mark was 70 per cent – and with 60 he was told he wasn’t cut out for the job.
Mr Kirk, from Bournemouth, fumed: “I used to be a taxi driver, a good one.
“But the council is telling me I can’t work as I don’t know how to use apostrophes. This is bureaucracy gone ballistic.”
Bournemouth Borough Council says all applicants have to pass a BTEC in taxi driving. Skills For Life, a three-hour GCSE level two English exam with 40 questions, is used to decide if they can handle the course.
The aim is to weed out foreigners who don’t speak English.
But Mr Kirk went on: “I went to school 35 years ago and didn’t pass my exams then.
“Taxi firms are screaming for drivers. So few have been coming through because of this bureaucracy.”
Mr Kirk must now study GCSE level two English on a taxpayer-funded course before he can re-sit the test