Interpreter ban for licences will be eased

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 28

Interpreter ban for licences will be eased

PA Wellington A ban on interpreters’ helping people with poor English sitting their driving tests would be partly lifted, said the Ministry of Transport. Interpreters would again be allowed to translate answers for people sitting private car and motor-cycle licence theory tests, said the assistant director of the Ministry’s Road Transport Division, Mr Jeff Connell. The Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, who is also Minister of Pacific and Island Affairs, had called for an end to the ban on

interpreters. Mr Connell said he hoped to permit use of inter- - prefers soon after a new system had been worked out to ensure that the practice was controlled. The Ministry was concerned about having one person repeatedly interpreting for his or her relatives. While no dishonesty was ever proved, and the interpreters were generally conscientious and competent, it was an unsatisfactory situation. Mr Connell said that in future the interpreters would probably be paid by

the Ministry. He was not sure whether persons sitting the test would be able to nominate a person they knew to interpret, or whether somebody would be appointed. Interpreters would not be allowed for persons sitting the test for taxi, bus, or truck licences. People who dealt with the public should have a reasonable grasp of English, and the truck licence questions could not be properly translated because of complexity of the rules, Mr Connell said.