Would-be motorists keen to shake off their L-plates are having to wait more than five months to get a practical test at more than 100 examination centres around the UK, despite measures to clear a backlog built up during the pandemic. For potential drivers, booking a practical test has in recent years become a major obstacle to getting behind the wheel.
A freedom of information request to the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency, by AA Driving Schools, has revealed that the average waiting time for a driving test in Great Britain is now higher than before the Covid pandemic at the majority of centres.
The FoI data shows that at the start of February, would-be drivers had to wait an average of 14.8 weeks for a test from the time of booking. By the start of May that had risen to 17.8 weeks – a 20% increase.
Meanwhile the number of test centres with average waiting times of 24 weeks – the maximum that could be recorded on the system – rose from 94 at the start of February, to 125 by the beginning of May.
Before 2020 the average time from booking to taking a practical test was six weeks. During Covid lockdowns 850,000 tests were cancelled and the service has been struggling to catch up ever since.
The DVSA has created almost 150,000 new test slots and provided 2m in the past year. It continues to recruit new examiners and offer overtime, and still has some managers carrying out tests.
However, the data shows average waiting times have increased at half of test centres this year. Only a fifth have seen a reduction.
Camilla Benitz, the managing director of AA Driving School, said: “Enough is enough. The additional test slots the DVSA added to the system between October and March have made no difference to the average waiting time learners up and down the country are facing.”
Benitz said more needed to be done to address the problem. “Being able to drive is not a luxury – for many people it is an absolute necessity to get them to work, education and employment,” she said.
“We need to see a renewed commitment from the DVSA to make additional driving test slots available, 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.”
She said the test centres that had increased their average waiting time between February and May included Barnet in London, Basingstoke, Dorchester, Ipswich, Nottingham and Plymouth.
