Hundreds of motorists in the municipal area have taken to social media to complain that many of the licence renewal centres, specifically Kempton Park, Alberton, Bedfordview, Springs, Edenvale and Etwatwa, are almost always closed, or people get turned away.
Motorists daily are either turned away from the centres, or find official notices at the gate saying they are offline. Often, they wait for hours in queues before being turned away.
They claim that the Bedfordview centre, especially, often says it is offline while staff are, in fact, attending to people inside.
Motorists also accuse the staff of being extremely rude to them.
The SA Insurance Association’s Zakes Sondiyazi said each case would be treated on its own merits, but ideally, an expired driving licence was not sufficient reason for an insurer to repudiate a claim.
“It nevertheless remains an offence to drive with an expired licence, and you are at risk of a traffic fine if you do so. However, vehicle claims could be invalid if there is sufficient proof that a driving licence was issued illegally and is therefore invalid. The onus would rest with the insured/driver/ employer to prove that everything possible had been done to ensure the licence was valid,” he said.