New research has revealed the driving test centres with the longest and shortest wait times in the UK. It’s part of analysis carried out by the AA Driving School to ascertain the current state of waiting times compared to October 2023.

Sadly, it’s not good news as the average wait time is over a month with three quarters of driving test centres stretching to over six weeks (by the end of January this year).

Worse still, the waiting times of nearly two fifths of test centres is over five months. All in, that means waiting times are still longer than those before the pandemic.

Postcode lottery

However, waiting times have been reduced at 60% of test centres because of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) push to add more test slots since October 2023 – though 40% of centres have either stayed the same or got worse.

The AA Driving School’s boss Camilla Benitz explains learners are experiencing “a postcode lottery on driving test waiting times and, while many areas have seen an improvement thanks to the extra slots created since October, there are still vast numbers who are stuck with stubbornly long or increased waiting times.”

The concern? That waiting times could remain the same or even begin creeping back up: “We need to see a renewed commitment from the DVSA to continuing to make additional driving test slots available,” says Benitz.

“But also to recruiting and retaining more examiners so additional learner test slots do not come at the expense of other vital DVSA services, such as driving instructor training exams, which we have seen falling availability of recently.”

Best & worst

As part of its research, the AA Driving School uncovered the regional areas where waiting times have dropped – and have gone up – the most.

Winners

The biggest improvers have seen 24-week waiting times as of October 2023 drop to just one week as of the end of January, 2024. These are:

Burgess Hill

Bury St Edmunds

Carlisle LGV (Cars)

Exeter

Fort William

Hereford

Ipswich

Losers

The biggest waiting time losers covering the same time period are:

Arbroath: From two weeks to 18 weeks

Taunton: From eight weeks to 24 weeks

Buckie: From seven weeks to 24 weeks

Culham LGV: From five weeks to 24 weeks

Crieff: From three weeks to 24 weeks

Peterhead: From one week to 24 weeks

Know Your Code

Double your chances of theory test success with Theory Test Pro. Sign up for free here.

Main image by krakenimages.com on Freepik