DVLA staff who went on strike over the pandemic vowed to ‘cripple’ service to cause ‘maximum disruption’ while UK desperately needed lorry drivers to ease food and fuel supply chain crisis

• DVLA staff have gone on strike for 58 days of past year over ‘Covid safety fears’
• Investigation found staff vowed to ‘cripple’ service with ‘maximum disruption’
• It was found almost 1,000 DVLA staff were on ‘special paid leave’ in August 2020
• In nine of past 24 months, more than 500 staff at a time have not been working 

Staff at the DVLA who went on strike during the pandemic vowed to ‘cripple’ the service and ’cause maximum disruption’, an investigation has found.

Millions of drivers have suffered from record delays due to a 400,000-long backlog of cases caused by the strike action – said to be over Covid-19 safety concerns in offices.

But an investigation by The Times found that workers Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency had discussed taking industrial action ‘to cripple the DVLA’ last year.

In a private messaging group for union members, one wrote last summer that his fellow civil servants should ‘bring the DVLA to a standstill’.

In July, union member Karl Edwards wrote that staff should ‘bring the DVLA to a standstill’ and ‘make them suffer like they have never suffered before’.

Staff at the DVLA who went on strike during the pandemic vowed to ‘cripple’ the service and ’cause maximum disruption’, an investigation has found. Pictured: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency offices in Swansea  

In disputes last autumn, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said members ‘want nothing more than to get back to work safely and serve the public’ saying that the DVLA should enable employees to work from home.

But many staff have not been able to log on to work systems remotely because of concerns about confidentiality, a concern the PCS has criticised.

This has meant typically just over 2,000 of the DVLA’s 6,200 staff have been on site through the pandemic. 

Yesterday, it was revealed that hundreds of staff at the DVLA have done no work on full pay for significant periods of the pandemic, with managers boasting of watching Netflix at public expense. 

The figures, revealed in an investigation by The Times, show nearly 1,000 DVLA workers remained on ‘special paid leave’ in August 2020. 

They also show that in nine of the past 24 months there have been more than 500 staff at a time not working, either on special paid leave or on strike.

Yesterday, it was revealed that hundreds of staff at the DVLA have done no work on full pay for significant periods of the pandemic, with managers boasting of watching Netflix at public expense (stock photo)

In January this year, there were 41 workers still on special leave but the DVLA said the figure has now fallen to 14.

Around 60,000 items of post arrive a day at the agency’s Swansea offices. 

Covid limits on staff numbers there, which were stricter than government guidance, remained in place throughout the pandemic under trade union pressure, The Times reported.

It claimed an undercover reporter working as a call handler was told to mislead the public about the length of the delays.

In a conversation with the reporter, a training manager joked about avoiding work at home, saying: ‘My manager would be messaging me… and I’d be like, you’re interrupting my series on Netflix.’

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has ordered a ‘thorough investigation’ of the claims.

A spokesman said: ‘These claims are not representative of the hardworking culture in DVLA.’

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