DVSA recruitment drive to cut driving test waiting times

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is recruiting 450 driving examiners and improving rules for booking driving tests in an effort to cut driving test waiting times.

The seven-point plan aims to provide 1.95 million car driving tests in the 12 months to March 2025 and reduce the waiting time to seven weeks by the end of next year.

Lilian Greenwood, minister for the future of roads, said: “Passing your driving test is a life changing opportunity for millions, but sky-high waiting times for tests in recent years have denied that opportunity to too many people.

“No one should have to wait six months when they’re ready to pass, travel to the other side of the country to take a driving test or be ripped off by unscrupulous websites just because they can’t afford to wait.

“The scale of the backlog we have inherited is huge, but today’s measures are a crucial step to tackle the long driving test wait times, protect learner drivers from being exploited, and support more people to hit the road.”

The seven-point plan will see 450 driving examiners recruited and trained, with the posts already having been advertised.

The DVSA will also review and improve the rules for booking driving tests and has launched a call for evidence about the current rules and processes.  

In  addition, DVSA will introduce a set of tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage driving tests for their pupils, which will come into force on January 6, 2025.

They set out that only driving instructors or businesses that employ driving instructors can use the service to book car driving tests.

The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching.

They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using. This is sometimes done to create a placeholder so the test can be swapped to another learner driver later.

DVSA will also consult on new proposals to increase the amount of time people have to wait to book another test in certain situations, such as making multiple serious or dangerous faults during their driving test, or physically or verbally assault their driving examiner and failing to attend their driving test without telling DVSA - and consider charging them a penalty.

Learner drivers currently have to wait 10 working days before being able to book another test. The consultation, which will launch at a later date, will set out the full details of the potential options.

DVSA will increase the amount of notice people need to give to change or cancel their car driving test without losing their fee to 10 clear working days from the current three.

It will also explore changing the current 24-week limit on how far ahead car driving tests can be booked and encourage learner drivers to be better prepared for their driving test through  the ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign.