2,000 Mo. Truckers Must Retake Road Test

Missouri has ordered about 2,000 truck drivers to retake driving tests after a private company’s road test was found to be inadequate.

The Missouri Highway Patrol told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch it is conducting a criminal investigation into an examination office in Sikeston, Mo., that the state decertified and closed last April.

The 2,000 truck drivers include 800 people who live in other states, state Department of Revenue spokeswoman Maura Browning said.

She said the state is sending 60 letters every 60 days to truck drivers who were licensed through the Sikeston examination office advising them to retake the test at examination stations operated by the Highway Patrol. She said it was necessary to stagger the announcements as the patrol does not have enough facilities to test all the drivers at once.

Driver Don Barnett said he paid $5,700 for a 2-week course at a truck-driving school in St. Louis, and was then sent to the Sikeston testing center.

I found out later on that Sikeston was a guaranteed ‘pass,’ Barnett told the newspaper. It was a joke.