Training hundreds more driving examiners and changes to fees to discourage late cancellations are among the measures announced on Wednesday that ministers hope will bring down waiting times for driving tests.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has announced a seven-point plan to tackle long waits and learners having to pay more for tests that are booked out by third parties trying to make a profit.
Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) earlier this year indicated that the number of tests taken reached a record level in the 12 months to the end of March, at 1.9 million.
Among the measures announced by the DVSA on Wednesday are the recruitment and training of 450 driving examiners, and 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.
Thousands have had to wait many months for a test, with some being exploited by businesses taking advantage of long waiting times or having to travel hundreds of miles in the process
There will also be changes to the system used by driving instructors to book tests in an attempt to free up more slots, as well as a call for evidence to examine how to prevent candidates being ripped off by third parties buying up slots.
The current rules around tests being booked up to 24 weeks in advance will also be looked at, to see if learners could sign up further ahead, and there will be 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.
In a written statement to Parliament on Wednesday, transport minister Lilian Greenwood said that “learner drivers should be able to take a test when they are ready to pass”.
“Yet thousands have had to wait many months for a test, with some being exploited by businesses taking advantage of long waiting times or having to travel hundreds of miles in the process,” she added.
She described changes as “practical, targeted, and designed to address the issues facing the driving test system.”
The head of the DVSA 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”.
Loveday Ryder, the chief executive of the DVSA, said that learner drivers, instructors and others in the industry will be asked for their views on the booking system and other processes “so we can better understand their needs and gather evidence ahead of any changes.”
In October a parliamentary debate heard that delays to driving tests had hit trainee paramedics and an aspiring police officer.
Labour’s Kevin McKenna told MPs in Westminster Hall that he met a constituent whose daughter was “desperate” to become a police officer.
The MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey in Kent said: “She can’t start a job because she needs to be able to drive for the job, she’ll be working in shifts, all she could find was a driving test months down the line in Birmingham, 150 miles away. She’s one of the luckier constituents in that she could actually find one.”
