Driving test cancellations 🤯

I used the speedy test website because it has an option for website to rebook for you, avoiding the annoyance of being told about cancellations but missing them. But it’s a bit of a gamble as to whether one’s instructor and his car will be free than

Is her test at the centre she wants? Does she have an instructor? Where i live, instructors will organize swaps at the same test centre between their pupils.

DC got an on the day cancellation after refreshing the DVLA site over and over.

My daughter passed in April. Her instructor books the tests for each student and then swaps them around for his students depending on ability. I have no idea how people manage otherwise given what my friends are going through. The whole system feels so messy.

They seem to own like hundreds of slots so I assume they they are in a network where they advertise each other’s slots or they’ve applied for slots in lots of people’s names.

Near us the test centre is at maximum waiting list but the next area is a short wait. Our area has a much higher pass rate

I had all the apps and I couldn’t get a cancellation and I couldn’t get one at 6am on a Monday. I live in Nottingham . My dd ended up doing her test two hours away. And I can spit to my nearest test centre. The whole thing is just a disaster.

So the resellers aren't bulk-buying slots? That's what I had assumed. Instead it's individuals genuinely reserving slots, and then these get traded through resellers if the individual wants to postpone their test?

I got the app ‘driving test now’, similar to Testi. You can auto book the dates you want. Worked well for me.

I did the 6am release day thing for my son. I signed in at 5.50am thinking I was early and I was 5467th in the queue.

I did eventually get a date for September luckily enough but that took until 6.20am. I can only hope he passes 1st time as I dread him having to go through another huge wait.

I really hope there are lots of cancellations over the summer that she can slot into. Good luck 🤞

We got a sooner one randomly after checking on a midweek afternoon…check whenever you can. Everyone tries on Monday at 6am.

I think they amend their booking at an agreed time and you get to grab that slot from them as it will be released. (Ie you swap slots with them )

Pretty sure you can only have one test booked. The apps cancel the other test to book the cancellation

I don't understand how the third-party resellers work. Do you book a test without providing a licence number, and then you can pass on the slot to someone else? If so it should be simple for the DVLA to crack down on this by requiring valid provisional licence numbers at the time of booking.

My ds got his changed through his driving instructor- there’s a local Facebook page for instructors where they swap tests if their pupil isn’t ready or can’t make one that’s booked. He got one two months earlier than originally booked but this was then cancelled by the DVSA and a date given for a month later. Ds then downloaded testi and a flurry of dates popped up a few days later so he now has one even earlier than the one that was cancelled.

I think what happens is the new slots are released at 6 am Monday, and people that already have test slots booked for earlier dates that don't feel ready for them, then pick up the new later slots thus leaving earlier slots available. I managed to get a slot 2 months earlier than the one I had by getting online at 6 am Monday. I had also paid for one of the apps and that was a waste of time IMO, I was never offered an earlier slot that way. It's a really crap system at the moment.

Cancellations happen all day not just at 6am on a certain day. I just kept refreshing the website page constantly....so much so that I kept getting kicked off for an hour sometimes. I managed to book DDs this way

If everyone booked when they were ready we wouldn't have this problem.
DD was a bit reluctant to be up at 6am to book the test but my attitude is if they are mature enough to learn to drive then they are mature enough to sort out their own test.

The cost of the app was less than half a lesson so it’s a no brainier, I used it with both DC who failed multiple times due to anxiety

Each time I booked a distant test anywhere then told the app where I really wanted and my minimum time of notice. We usually managed to rebook within days and the longest we waited for retest was six weeks

why quibble about £30 when 6 months of driving lessons is well over a thousand pounds. You can’t beat this system sadly so learn how to play it

I was told to book a test at 6am on a Monday, tried and failed for several weeks. A friend then told me to just keep going on the website periodically during the day, took me one days of logging in every 20 / 30 mins and I eventually got one:

Can I ask how you book a cancellation? When I went in to look for cancellation slots it said I couldn’t go any further as I already had a test booked. Am I doing something wrong?

That’s exactly what I have done with mine. Booked her test whilst she learns to drive as it’s 5 months later she’s had 4 lessons then it’s been booked. Seems to be the only way. I think the instructors are also not helping the situation asking learners to only book when they deem them ready to pass, one of friends has been ready test booked for 5 months and spends every day waiting for cancellations she’s moved her slot 2/3 times with earlier cancellations and will continue to do so as she’s ready and waiting. Had the instructor told her when she’s was “on track” she could have booked and been ready at a similar point to the original test.. and not now been messing with cancellations. The instructors should help the learners taking away the need for anyone to pay extortionate prices..

Yes, they do issue new, unbooked tests then. However cancellation test are reissued at 6 am on a Friday mornings so that learners can rebook them.