When I booked my practical driving assessment it was a matter of waiting a couple of weeks to sit the test.
Five years on and Mandurah residents are being forced to travel to Busselton or wait over four months to do their driving test.
For residents such as Eric George Hamer, who wasn't able to book a driving test for his wife until September, the wait is having an impact on his day-to-day life.
"My wife didn't worry about getting her driver's license but she starts work at 3:30am in Halls Head now so we thought we better get her a license," he said.
"We went on May 3 to see about booking a test and we were told the earliest one was the 15th of September in the Peel region.
"We can't even get one earlier in Rockingham. The only place we can go to do a test quicker is Busselton.
"So we decided to wait until the 15th of September to do the test but now I've got to get up at 3 in the morning and drive my wife to work every day."
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The lack of test availabilities has been blamed on there only being two assessors covering the whole Peel region.
Mr Hamer said the situation was "ridiculous".
"We're a city with a population of 80,000 in Peel and somehow only have two assessors," he said.
"I think it's quite ludicrous really.
"If they even had four assessors there would be more kids getting licenses, spending money and working in the region."
According to a Department of Transport (DoT) spokesperson, recruitment for additional driver assessors for the site has been unsuccessful in securing applicants to work at the Mandurah centre.
"DoT is working with its current resources to upskill existing staff at that location to improve availability as well as relocating employees from other centre locations, where possible," the spokesperson said.
"Practical driving assessment candidates are encouraged to only book when well prepared and to search all metropolitan locations for availability in order to secure a booking during periods of high demand."
We're a city with a population of 80,000 in Peel and somehow only have two assessors
- Eric George Hamer
The spokesperson also encouraged driving test candidates to check the online booking system daily for change to availability.
"The Department of Transport releases practical driving assessments across the metropolitan area in a release pattern from two days up to six months in advance," the spokesperson said.
"This release takes place each day (excluding weekends) in order to ensure there are always short term and long term appointments available for candidates.
"We have recently released an additional 1,100 bookings to the standard daily releases for all assessment locations to improve availability."
