The man who was told last week that he would have to retake his driving test because a Town Hall official had accidentally cancelled his licence has now got it back.It was only after Graham Woodham’s case was highlighted on the front page of Saturday’s JEP that Deputy Collin Egré spoke to Solicitor General Stephanie Nicolle and asked her to review the case.
She has now overruled the civil servants who said that there was nothing they could do – even though they admitted that the error was theirs.Mr Woodham, who has held a licence for 40 years and used to be an HGV driver, is delighted by the outcome, but is still frustrated and angry that he was put through such a nightmare.
For more than three weeks he has had to rely on friends to drive him to work around the Island.’From the beginning to the end, it’s been an absolute joke,’ he said.
‘It has cost the taxpayer for me to retake my test and it has put unnecessary pressure on me and my wife.
Of course, I feel happy that I have got my licence back, but at the end of the day it is something that never should have happened.
I am just happy that justice has been done.’It all started when Mr Woodham approached the Town Hall to renew his licence and was told that he was only qualified to ride a motorbike.
It emerged that an official had accidentally cancelled his licence ten years before.
He was told he had been driving without a licence ever since and could not get behind the wheel.Deputy Egré, who sits of the Home Affairs Committee and has responsibility for DVS, said it was the law that was at fault and that something had to be done.’It was obvious – we had a man who had not committed any criminal offence and was being disadvantaged by an error in a government department, and that is not just,’ the Deputy said.’It wasn’t a problem with DVS, it was a problem with the law.
I spoke to the Solicitor General and we found a way around it that was acceptable to all.’
