Préfecture waiting times revealed

THE ESSONNE and the Bouches-du-Rhône have been named the slowest departments in France to issue key administrative documents such as driving licences, passports and ID cards.

A national league table comparing waiting times in each of the 103 préfectures in mainland France and the overseas territories has found large discrepancies from one department to the next.

The three best-performing departments were the Lozère, Cantal and the Territoire de Belfort. Other préfectures praised for their efficiency included the Nièvre, Orne and Aude.

The Orne was the quickest to issue a carte grise (vehicle registration document) - in just 10 minutes - while in the Essonne it took an hour and 20 minutes.

ID cards and passports were issued in two days in the Corrèze and Nièvre, compared with a wait of almost a month in the Seine-Saint-Denis and most of the other departments that make up the Ile-de-France.

The Seine-Saint-Denis was, however, very quick at issuing driving licences (two days) compared with 52 days in the Puy-de-Dôme.

The league table is compiled each year by Côtes d'Armor MP Marc Le Fur, who sits on the National Assembly's finance commission.

He said that, overall, the waiting times were improving, but préfectures had been given too much work to do and planned staff cuts next year risked exacerbating the situation.

"In 2011, préfectures will probably hold the record for the highest rate of non-replacement of staff: 80.7 per cent of staff taking retirement will not be replaced," he said.

"This sort of rhythm cannot be sustained for long."