Driving testers were abused by parents whose children had failed their tests or could not take them because of invalid insurance discs.
One candidate became aggressive with a staff member after failing to “understand the rules around traffic lights” and refusing to listen, according to an incident report.
Another candidate crashed their vehicle in a car park at the end of their test.
The incidents were among more than 160 recorded by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) over a 15-month period. In about a quarter of the incidents, staff were subjected to verbal abuse, threatened, attacked or accused of racism.
There were multiple cases of aggressive parents, including one mother who became verbally abusive when a driving examination was cancelled due to expired car insurance.
A note of the incident said: “Her daughter was not taken out on test as there was an issue with the insurance. It was out of date.”
The RSA listed one case of “extreme verbal abuse” and threats of violence after a man’s partner failed to pass her exam.
In another case, staff were verbally abused by a person who showed up with an insurance disc that was “printed in black and white”.
A note said: “Applicant had previously gotten a ‘non-conduct’ for no proof of insurance.”
Another became threatening after showing up 15 minutes late for their test, only to return an hour later to abuse staff.
One case referenced a “direct physical assault” when a test was not conducted, according to the RSA records.
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The log of 161 accidents and incidents from the authority covered the period from April 2025 to June 2026.
There were other cases where people crashed during their exams and one where a person bumped their head on a door while leaving a test centre.
Another incident report said: “Test applicant illegally driving to their driving test at 10.05 at Finglas driving test centre, unaccompanied and not displaying L plate.”