DVSA changes driving test booking rules - but will it clear the backlog?

The DVSA has introduced new rules for booking driving tests, in an effort to reduce months-long waiting times and stop “test touts” who re-sell slots, ITV News' Consumer Editor Chris Choi reports

New rules, aimed at cutting the waiting times for driving tests and clamping down on touts selling lucrative slots for as up to as much as four times their listed price, have been launched by the DVSA.

Since the pandemic, the average waiting time for getting a driving test has rocketed up, as people who were unable to learn during the lockdowns added to the next generation of people who were seeking to pass.

This has led to the growth of booking touts that use bots to hoover up all the new slots offered by the Driving Vehicles and Standards Agency (DVSA) and then resell them at a much higher cost.

Many learner drivers and instructors have complained about the growth in these shady block booking systems.

The new rules, which were announced last year and came into force on Monday, will see 450 more examiners trained across the UK as well as reforming how the booking system works.

What is in the new rules?

Along with the recruitment drive of new instructors, the DVSA has also been buying holiday back from their current staff.

The DVSA has also launched new rules that say only driving instructors or businesses that employ driving instructors can use DVSA services to book car driving tests.

They cannot book tests for learner drivers they are not teaching, this is being done to clamp down on tests being booked by one instructor that can be then traded to another.

Members of the public will still be able to book a test through other bodies that are not the DVSA.

They will also be increasing the period for changing or cancelling a test without losing money from three working days to 10 working days beforehand in a bid to discourage late cancellations.

The DVSA has also launched a consultation on proposals to increase the waiting time between tests for people who make multiple serious or dangerous faults, physically or verbally assault an examiner or do not turn up to their test without notice.

Several other policies were announced including wider use of the 'Ready to Pass?' campaign so learners are better prepared for their test.

The head of the DVSA, Loveday Ryder, has said that the measures will help to “make the driving test booking system fairer for learners, better protecting them from exploitation, and continue to provide them with the tools to help them pass their test”.

How bad is it for learner drivers?

Before the Covid pandemic, the average waiting time for a test was around four to six weeks but the lockdowns caused a huge backlog and examiners have been struggling to catch up ever since.

Official figures show the shortest wait time is in Wales at just over three months, or 12.8 weeks. Scotland is now around four months, or 15.6 weeks.

England has the longest waits clocking up from 14.5 two years ago to more than 20.5 weeks today - that is more than a five-month wait.

In some areas like Newbury, the wait can be as much as a year.

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Because of the huge backlog, getting a test slot has become the most difficult manoeuvre learner drivers have to face.

Their struggle has opened up an unofficial market of driving test touts, charging far more than the official £62 fee.

ITV News found people re-selling test slots across social media and on individual websites, with prices ranging from around £125 up to £242.

Driving instructor Tony Simcock told ITV News: "Since Covid it's been really quite stuck and the DVSA haven't been able to change the system sufficiently to sort this out."

He said he had to jump through numerous hoops to secure a test that often involved booking one in a completely different region from where he was based and then trading it to someone else.

Driving instructor Duygu Ozcan told ITV News: “I think it’s a shambles, it’s not fair that people have to pay extra to a third party that isn’t even recognised and some people are getting scammed”.

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