One of her clients, 17-year-old sheep farmer Ridley Craig from Bishop Auckland, had a test booked on 6 May.
He was taking a three-hour lesson the day before in preparation for it when he was notified it had been cancelled.
“We have two family farms and I work for someone else doing his sheep work, so I have to move between different places for work,” he said.
“I was pretty upset and disappointed to be honest because I was excited to get passed and get on the road.
“A couple of my friends had their tests cancelled when they actually got to the driving test centre, it’s not good enough.”
Smith said Craig would have “flown through the test” and the expression on his face when he read the email was “heartbreaking”.
“He’s got work booked all over the country and now he’s got no licence”.
