Faro’s Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) office has bolstered its staff due to the increasing number of British residents seeking to exchange their British driver’s licences for Portuguese ones.
Luís Goes Pinheiro, Assistant Secretary of State for Administrative Modernisation, told Lusa news agency that over 10 new employees have joined the IMT staff in Faro.
“Faro is a district that is under a lot of pressure due to Brexit and the British citizens living in Portugal,” he also said.
But the issues at Faro’s IMT office and its long queues have been well-known for a while.
Just last month, inewspaper spoke with a source “close to the IMT office” who said that the boost in staff “would not solve anything”.
“The number of desks hasn’t increased; there are still only six desks,” the source said, adding that the people who have been hired are not trained to deal with the public.
“They will help a little, but most of the problems will continue: the long queues will remain,” the source added.
Calling the IMT office is also ‘virtually impossible’ as the phone is “always off the hook”.
“People can call as much as they like because no one will answer. It’s one call after another,” the source told i, adding that the office would need a room with two or three people whose sole job would be to answer phone calls.
It remains to be seen whether the boost in staff will help alleviate at least some of the reported issues.
Photo: A photo of the queues at Faro’s IMT office that went viral on social media in February
