DVSA clamps down on block booking of driving tests

Sarah Tooze, Consumer Editor
Mon, 18 Jul 2022

• DVSA blocks almost 5,000 driving test booking accounts in a bid to stop organisations booking tests in bulk and selling them for a profit. 
• Number of drivers not turning up for a test more than doubles since the pandemic to 6,000 each month, despite high demand for tests. 
• DVSA launches new reminder text message service and 'Ready to Pass?' campaign.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has blocked almost 5,000 driving test booking accounts, after it was revealed that slots were being booked in bulk and sold for a profit. 

Learner drivers have been paying as much as £200 to some operators in a bid to beat the long delays of 14 weeks or more. 

As well as blocking accounts, the DVSA said that it has improved security to block bots and put checks in place to ensure all new accounts must be for a driving instructor and must be rubber stamped by an official, rather than made online. 

Despite the high demand for tests, the number of 'no shows' has doubled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic with more than 6,000 tests 'wasted' each month, according to the DVSA.

It said that every day, one in 22 people do not turn up for their driving test. On average, a further 1,100 learners each month are left disappointed as their tests have not been able to go ahead because they arrive late, don’t bring their provisional driving licence or don’t bring a car that meets driving test rules.

Since April, learner drivers have lost more than £200,000 because of these mistakes, as well as being left disappointed and having to wait even longer for a test.

In response, the DVSA has launched a text message service which will send test date reminders to learners.

It is also urging learners to rearrange their test if they are not ready. With the pass rate below 50 per cent, many learners should be more prepared, and failed tests could be used by another candidate who is ready, the DVSA said. 

New 'Ready to Pass?' campaign 

Being nervous, making a silly mistake or believing they were 'marked too harshly' are the main reasons drivers think they failed their test, according to DVSA research. It said the latter shows that learners "do not understand the standard that's required to pass". 

To help to reduce the number of learners failing for these reasons DVSA has launched a new campaign called ‘Ready to Pass?’, which provides advice on: finding an approved driving instructor; how to monitor and check progress of your driving lessons and private practice; when to take a mock test; and how to manage your test day nerves.

It also includes a checklist of the things that learners should do before taking their driving test. 

As well as the campaign, the DVSA has put several measures in place to ensure more tests are available to book, including: recruiting more driving examiners and inviting recently retired examiners to come back; offering existing driving examiners overtime; and providing more tests at weekends and bank holidays.

It said that these have contributed to an estimated extra 425,000 tests since April 2021, and it intends to bring the wait time down to nine weeks or less by December 2022. 

Ask HJ

Should drivers give way to cars joining from a side road?

Down here in the South East, a habit seems to have developed where drivers stop to let other drivers out of a side road onto the main road. This is very courteous, and makes sense if you're in a queue of slow-moving traffic on the main road. However, this courtesy seems to have gone mad, with drivers on clear roads stopping to let others onto the road. A driving instructor once told me that if you did this in a test, you would be failed. I feel that this will eventually lead to confusion on the roads, with people pulling out of side roads expecting other drivers to stop, to let them onto the main road. Do I have a genuine reason for my anger about this behaviour, or am I just a very rude driver?

This is a long-running debate that has never been fully clear. The Highway Code does not specifically say that you should or shouldn't slow to let people out of a side road or junction. However, as your driving instructor said it is usually considered poor road craft to slow down abruptly and let someone out if you have a queue of traffic behind that then has to slow down too. This causes cascading braking that can often lead to more traffic jams. If the road is clear or you have a sufficient gap behind and in front to let a car out it's courteous to do so, but to slow right down on a fast, busy A road can be dangerous. So in this respect I'd agree with you.

Answered by Lawrence Allan

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Ask HJ

Lapsed driving licence - can I renew or will I need to take another test?

I am 77 and inadvertently let my driving licence lapse (2 years) over lockdown, will I need to take another test or will I be able to just renew my licence?

You can renew your licence. The quickest and easiest way to do this is online at www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence-at-70

Answered by Sarah Tooze

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