The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is kicking off the New Year with a seven-point plan to try and drive down the waiting times for driving tests. Currently, the average time is over 19 weeks – compared to before the pandemic when theat figure was 6-7 weeks.

To tackle these excessive wait times, the agency’s new plan includes:

1. Penalising poor conduct

Right now, learners have to wait 10 working days before being allowed to book another test. However, the DVSA is considering increasing this time if you either make multiple or serious faults during your original test; physically or verbally attack your examiner; or fail to turn up to your test without giving the agency official notice that you’ll be a no-show.

2. Increasing notice period

You can currently change your driving test booking so long as you give three clear working days notice – without our losing your fee. However, the DVSA is considering changing this to 10 clear working days from spring 2025 to encourage people to change or cancel their test sooner (if they’re not ready for it), giving other learners a better chance of securing a test slot.

3. Preventing learner exploitation

The agency is planning to improve the driving test booking system to make sure that learner drivers can book their driving test more easily and efficiently. The DVSA also wants to make the system as fair as possible while protecting learners from being exploited (such as by stopping the resale of driving tests).

4. Creating new booking conditions

Coming into force on 6 January, only driving instructors or businesses that employ instructors will be able to use the driving test booking service. Importantly, thanks to a new set of terms and conditions, neither will be able to book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. This aims to stop the block booking of test slots.

The agency is also hoping to stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that the learner driver will not use. This is typically done to create a ‘placeholder’, enabling the instructor or business to swap the test to another learner driver – and in some cases, charging that learner a significant sum for the ‘privilege’.

To enforce these new terms and conditions, the DVSA will issue warning notices or account suspensions/closures to anyone trying to exploit the system.

5. Recruiting more driving examiners

The DVSA is planning to recruit and train 450 examiners to drive down waiting times. This recruitment drive actually began in 2024 with the first round of new examiners expected to start in the coming months.

6. Reviewing the test booking window

The agency is looking at how far ahead you can book your driving test. While this is currently set to 24 weeks, the agency believes that changing this time period can help it better understand how many learners want a driving test at specific test centres.

7. Continuing the ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign

The agency will continue its campaign that asks you to check that you are ready to take your test in the first place. Currently, 23% of learners take their first attempt at the test within a month of starting lessons, which is setting you up for a fail – and a wasted slot that could have gone to someone actually ready to take their test.

Big ambitions

The DVSA says that its seven-point plan will help provide 1.95 million car driving tests between April 2024 and March 2025 and reduce waiting times to seven weeks by December. There’s no doubt that these are ambitious goals but we hope the agency succeeds Watch this space.

“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 … 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.”

• Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads

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Image by Antoni Sheraba.