A new ban has come into force, preventing driving instructors from booking tests for their pupils, as average waiting times for a practical examination now exceed 22 weeks.
From Tuesday, only learners themselves can book and manage their driving tests, a power previously held by instructors.
This aims to curb the illicit practice of individuals using automated programmes – known as 'bots' – to secure available slots rapidly and resell them at inflated prices. A BBC investigation in December exposed touts offering instructors up to £250 a month for booking website login details.
While a standard test costs £62, a National Audit Office (NAO) report, also published in December, found learners were paying up to £500 to book a black market slot. It is now illegal to book a driving test for anyone other than oneself, as learners across Britain face a huge backlog.
Freedom of information data accessed by AA Driving School shows the average waiting time to book a test increased from 20.8 weeks in January to 22.4 by April 6.
In February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, the figure was five weeks.
From June 12, it will only be possible to move a slot to one of the three test centres nearest the initial booking.
This is aimed at reducing incidents of people booking a test regardless of location, with no intention of using the slot.
They then attempt to switch tests to a more convenient location if a place becomes available at a later date.
This makes it hard for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to plan how much capacity is required at certain test centres.
Another measure aimed at making the system fairer cut the number of changes allowed for a single booking from six to two from March 31.
Emma Bush, managing director of AA Driving School, said: “Learner drivers continue to face unacceptable delays in accessing driving tests.
“The data clearly shows more needs to be done to really get a handle on the situation and start to push waiting times back.”
She said Tuesday’s changes are “unlikely to be the silver bullet which turns the tide on long waiting times”, but acknowledged they “mark a shift towards overhauling the booking system for the better”.
She added: “It is only part of the solution though.
“To really improve waiting times over a prolonged period, there needs to be unrelenting focus from the DVSA on retaining and recruiting driving test examiners.”
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