Major shake up as new practical driving test booking rules come into force amid record waiting times
A new ban has come into force preventing driving instructors from booking tests for their students, with the average waiting time for a practical test now exceeding 22 weeks.
From Tuesday, only students will be able to book and administer driving tests themselves, a power previously held by instructors.
This aims to prevent illegal practices by individuals using automated programs known as ‘bots’ to quickly secure available slots and resell them at inflated prices. A BBC investigation in December found they were offering tutors up to £250 a month to reserve website logins.
Although a standardized test costs £62, a National Audit Office (NAO) report, also published in December, found students were paying up to £500 to book places on the black market. As UK students face a huge backlog, it is now illegal to book a driving test for anyone other than oneself.
Freedom of information data accessed by AA Driving School shows the average waiting time to book a test has risen to 22.4 weeks as of April 6, from 20.8 weeks in January.
In February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, that figure was five weeks.
From June 12, it will only be possible to move quotas to one of the three test centers closest to the initial booking.
This aims to reduce incidents of people booking tests who do not intend to use the slot, regardless of location.
They will then attempt to move the tests to a more suitable location if space becomes available at a later date.
This makes it difficult for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to plan how much capacity is needed at specific testing centres.
Another measure aimed at making the system fairer reduced the number of changes allowed for a single booking from six to two from March 31.
AA Driving School chief executive Emma Bush said: “Learner drivers continue to face unacceptable delays in accessing their driving tests.
“The data clearly shows that more needs to be done to really address the situation and start pushing back wait times.”
He said Tuesday’s changes were “unlikely to be a silver bullet to reverse long wait times”, but acknowledged they “point to a shift towards overhauling the booking system for the better”.
He added: “But this is only part of the solution.
“To truly improve waiting times over a long period of time, the DVSA needs to focus relentlessly on retaining and recruiting driving test examiners.”
