Investigative journalism by bTV revealed serious violations in the system for psychological testing of professional drivers in Bulgaria. The media team managed to obtain an official certificate for passing a psychotest without the candidate having personally appeared at the laboratory.
The experiment began with 67-year-old Plamen Petkov, who agreed to provide his documents for a psychotest for taxi work. "I agreed because I was very curious to see the result. I had no intention of driving a taxi," he explained.
A bTV reporter turned to an intermediary in Sofia, recommended by an anonymous truck driver. At a brokerage office on the northern outskirts of the capital, the employees accepted the documents and money without requiring the candidate to be present.
"He doesn't have to come, right? No. We just call when it's ready," said the office employee. The price for the service was 150 leva - within the official fees, which vary from 80 to 150 leva depending on the category.
A week later, on June 4, the team received the finished certificate with a seal and laboratory number. According to the document, the psychotest was passed on May 30, although Plamen Petkov never set foot in the laboratory.
"It's really hard to believe, but it looks like the real thing. There's a hologram, there's a laboratory where it was visited and where I should have been tested," commented Petkov after receiving the document.
Krassimir Georgiev, chairman of AKAB, confirmed the widespread nature of the problem: "At the moment, it is no secret that close to one hundred percent of certificates of psychological fitness are sent to the applicant without him even knowing where the psychological laboratory is located."
According to him, the fault lies with the state, which "indiscriminately hands out permits". He explains that "those who are lazy, those who are so afraid that they will not be able to afford it, usually have more money than those who are smart and educated."
The investigation also revealed a more extreme case - issuing a certificate in the name of a deceased driver. The unified register of psychological tests states that on October 30, a certain candidate passed a psychotest, although he died on January 18, 2024.
According to the documents, the same deceased also underwent 35 hours of training for public freight transport on October 25 - again after his death.
The Executive Agency "Automobile Administration" has initiated a procedure to revoke the rights of the laboratory in Sofia after the signal from bTV. "We accept the signal, we are releasing it immediately for verification and we will notify you as soon as possible about the results," said Executive Director Slav Monov.
The agency revealed that there are 20 signals of violations against the laboratory, and its staff had previously worked in another laboratory that was closed due to violations.
According to Monov, "there should have been" surveillance cameras during the psychotests, "as in driving license courses." He stressed the need for an amendment to the law for "greater transparency in the conduct of such exams."
Bulgaria ranks first in Europe in terms of road fatalities, with psychotests for professional drivers being one of the main measures for the prevention of fatal accidents.