The government says up to 6,500 additional driving tests will be delivered over the next year – thanks to military driving examiners being brought in.
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has also set out new measures to try to stamp out the third-party “reselling” of driving test appointments. They use online bots to grab tests as soon as they become available.
Speaking to the transport committee, the minister said: “We are conducting more tests. We’ve also recruited more new driving examiners – 316 in total. But as I’ve said to this committee previously, we also need to retain more of our driving examiners, so that is a net increase of over 40 driving examiners.
“We do need to see more progress there. We are giving driving examiners an extraordinary retention payment next year of £5,000, to be split between a payment in March and a payment in September.
“Anecdotally, we’re hearing that this is stopping some driving examiners from retiring early or encouraging them to delay their retirement.
“But I do need to be honest with all committee members that I can’t sit here today and tell you that I’m going to meet the summer 2026 deadline either. Demand is still very high, and the approaches that DVSA have taken so far have not been sufficient to meet this level of demand.”
Ms Alexander said: “We have engaged with the Ministry of Defence School of Transport, and they are going to be giving us a number of their driving examiners to supplement the ones we already have.
“Using some of those Ministry of Defence resources is good for them – because their driving examiners need to keep up their skills – but it also gives us some extra capacity as well.”
The 36 defence driving examiners (DDEs), made up of civilian MoD personnel, will help conduct driving tests one day a week for 12 months.
The minister for the armed forces, Al Carns, said: “Our military driving examiners bring skill and professionalism from testing service personnel to prepare them for some of the toughest conditions imaginable.
“By supporting civilian testing, they’re helping to get more learners on the road, keep Britain moving, and deliver for the public.”
The minister also announced moves to deal with the problem of enterprises “scraping” driving test appointments and reselling them at a large premium.
“We’re introducing a legislative change which will mean that only the driver themselves can book a test. This is to try to stop people being exploited by bots that are operating online.”
In addition, the transport secretary said: “We are going to be limiting the number of times that a driver can move or swap a test, and we will also limit the area that they can move a test to once they've booked it.”
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “It is good to see steps being put in place to put a stop to those touting tests to frustrated learners – candidates stuck in the queue should at least be reassured that they aren’t being elbowed aside by those simply seeking to make a quick buck.
“What will really deter the touts and tackle the queues would be a return to the more reasonable pre-Covid waiting time for tests, which we hope the arrival of a platoon of military examiners alongside the new DVSA recruits will help deliver.”
Ms Alexander revealed that the chief executive, Loveday Ryder, of the DVSA is leaving her role. She said: “We’ll be looking to the new leadership as well to really get a grip on the issue of driving test wait times, because it will be the top priority for the organisation.”
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