That's the warning from the FTA (Freight Transport Association), responding to the announcement by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
The delegated examiner scheme allows staff from private companies to be accredited to deliver the HGV or PCV licence acquisition test, but the DVSA believes training more of its own examiners will improve efficiency.
As a result, DVSA has written to all delegated examiner candidates booked to be trained at the agency's Cardington training centre this financial year, advising them that their course has been cancelled.
"While industry wants a move towards the greater flexibility ... DVSA figures show that even the most efficient delegated examiners are delivering fewer than 200 tests each year, while DVSA's own examiners are doing 800," observes James Firth, FTA's head of licensing policy and compliance information.
"With the constraints on DVSA's resources to train examiners, this move makes sense at the moment," he concludes.
DVSA is anticipating a significant upturn in the number of vocational tests delivered next year, and FTA had previously questioned whether the agency's capacity to deliver could be at risk of constraining any response to the driver shortage crisis.
"The delegated examiner process must be reformed by the time this temporary measure is lifted, allowing delegated examiners to examine tests of drivers from different companies," insists Firth.
"This will allow the flexibility for delegated examiners to reach the efficiency levels of DVSA examiners."