The Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is facing a significant issue that will leave drivers without their driving licence for five months. The driving test backlog is now projected to continue until autumn 2027, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has confirmed.
Current Waiting Times
Figures from the DVSA show that the average waiting time for a test last month stood at nearly 22 weeks, equivalent to five months. Ms Alexander acknowledged the public's frustration, stating: "I totally understand people's frustrations."
She insisted that "we have done a lot" to address the issue but conceded that "demand is still very high." Giving evidence to the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday, she said: "Realistically, this is going to take a long time to sort this problem out, and I think by the autumn of next year we should be back down to the seven-week aspiration that we've got."
Government Measures
Ms Alexander said the Government is "taking this really seriously" and has implemented several measures to tackle the backlog. These include recruiting more driving test examiners and training them faster, using military examiners, and reforming the booking process to combat misuse.
She added: "The action that we've taken in the last couple of months, it's too early to draw completely definitive conclusions on it, but we have seen evidence that swap volumes have gone down by 70 per cent and refund volumes also fell by around a third since May 12, which I think indicates that this sort of speculative booking and then rebooking, perhaps there's less of that happening."
New Rules Implemented
- At the end of March, a new rule was introduced allowing only two changes to be made to a booked slot, such as the date or test centre location.
- Since 12 May, only pupils have been able to book their driving test instead of anyone else, including instructors.
- From 9 June, if you want to move your test, you can only move it to the three test centres closest to where your test is booked.
The minister expressed her aspiration: "My aspiration is to get us back down to a point where, when someone is booking a test, they're not having to wait months on end to get one, which is the situation for some people in some locations at the moment."
