Transportation Office deluged with license applications

PHUKET CITY: Overworked staff at Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PPTO) are rushed off their feet by the demand for new licenses and license renewals.

Teerayuth Prasertphol, Chief Technical Officer of the PPTO, told the Gazette that the office is receiving 80 to 150 applications for new licenses and as many as 200 applications for renewals a day.

“There has been a 70% increase in applicants from other provinces because the regulations were changed to allow people registered as resident in other provinces to apply anywhere, rather than having to go back home for a license,” he said.

In spite of the surge in applications, the PPTO still has only four members of staff to process licenses. “We don’t have enough money to hire more staff, so we have to ask people from other departments to come and help in our section,” said K. Teerayuth.

Applicants who pass their test one day should, in theory, be given their licenses the following day, but there are too many to process at the moment, he said.

“In theory, the maximum number of applicants should be 200 a day but we have as many as 350 on some days. We cannot deal with all of them, and as a result we receive a lot of complaints,” he said.

“We are issuing 70-80 new driving licenses every day and are obliged to work after office hours in order to keep up with demand, so staff members always get back home late.

“Some staff are starting to lose heart because, in spite of our hard work, there are a lot of complaints directed at us.”

“The situation here is much worse [than in other parts of Thailand] because of the high number of people from other provinces who have come to work in Phuket.

“We’re trying to improve the online application process which should ease things, but we’ve run into problems connecting our computer system with offices where residential records are kept.”

If these problems can be ironed out, he said, the online system will be a big help in speeding up the issuing of licenses.