To want to know why the government hasn’t sorted out the driving test booking mess yet

The whole system has totally fallen apart in the last 2 years.

My eldest passed in autumn 2022, at that point we were still coming out of pandemic delays and even then when he failed his first test we could fairly easily get a cancellation at his chosen test centre within 6 weeks. Middle child passed May 2023, again we fairly easily got a slot at our nearest centre.

Youngest child was 17 in June, passed his theory two days after his birthday and we immediately booked a test - any test. Because until you have a test booked you cannot swap for a location nearer. We have been trying every day to swap his test booked at a centre an hour away but just can't so he's just going to have to go with it and we have everything crossed he passes.

There has to be more going on than people block booking slots. This is only happening because there is not enough capacity in the system. Too many learners chasing too few slots. A driving examiner earns about £28k. Many who have the driving qualifications to examine can make more money teaching, and have more flexibility doing it.

A simple solution would be to have to allocate a provisional driving licence number to each test booked, with only one test bookable per licence at any time.

Hope you were successful @Iwantatest - like you I was behind 20k others at 6am a few weeks ago. Got through at 7.15am, and there were a handful of spaces left on Thursday/Friday for her second choice location. I felt like I’d won the lottery! She couldn’t do it herself as she starts work at 7am and travels before. Is a ridiculous system.

The government (successive governments) don't give a shit about young people though, that's why it hasn't been sorted.

The govt is trying to sort it out. There was a consultation (niw closed), lots of info about the issues and possible solutions in this doc.
They are now rewriting the booking system, see this

They are having to book tests months in advance so they have no idea whether they will be ready.

If they waited until they were ready to book it could be six months or more to get a test.

Number of points I can add as an ADI.

There is no block booking. There has never been block booking. It has never been possible. One licence number with a valid theory is one test. That's it - there's no clever work around, no clever cheat that anyone can use.

We (ADIs) don't have the system sewn up as a PP suggested. We cannot book tests for someone who doesn't have a valid theory. We cannot book a test for someone who already has a test booked. As above - one valid person, one test.

Bots have been largely been tackled. The biggest mechanism of abuse has essentially been closed, the ability to swap tests between learners, to do this you now have to call the DVSA which makes automating a 'cheat' with bots impossible. There are still cancellation finding services, they are making a substantially over the top profit, but they are simply automating what you can do yourself - regular checks of the public facing booking system.

Driving tests have increased by something like 20-25% over the last few years. I think the last figures I saw were something like 1.9 million per year compared with around 1.5 million in 2019.

Staff retention is poor so it's very difficult to increase the examiner base. The basic pay is similar to a NQ nurse or teacher (and you may well feel that figure is too low for those groups as well, but that's another thread). The difference is that most DEs join the industry midlife whereas most NQ teachers and nurses would join the industry at the start of their working lives. Salary expectations when you are 40-something tend to be higher than when you are 20-something. Furthermore the typically later start in the industry (and you'd like examiners to be highly experienced drivers, right?) inherently means that even for committed staff their potential lifespan in the industry will be relatively short compared with other fields leading to greater staff turnover.

The biggest reason I suspect for the increased demand is one that the Government and DVSA have not admitted publicly and is nothing to do with Covid for example. What else happened to coincide with the end of Covid? Massively increased immigration to the UK (a very quick google for some data suggests around 2.5-3 million net immigration since 2020). It doesn't matter what your political view on it is, this has meant huge numbers of people who want to be able to drive in the UK have suddenly been added to the pool of people.

Yes but the level required to pass the test in America is very very basic plus everyone drives automatic. Ask any American who has had to take the British test.

Why are they booking tests if they’re not ready to pass?

Clearly the problem of some reselling for profit is a bigger issue.

Yes, I read that the incentive to become a driving test examiner is very poor so they cannot recruit. They need to make the role more appealing financially.

Not everyone uses their instructors car - my son used our own car, obviously appropriately taxed, mot'd and insured - on the day he wasn't the only one in a non-instructor car either.

It’s utterly exhausting and the expense is a real burden. I can’t see why it’s an issue at all. Children in America seem to be able to learn without issue.

My daughter is ready to take hers, earliest available was March so she is having lessons every other week until then, it means she struggles getting to Uni placements.

They’ve recently employed a large number of new examiners but it’s too overwhelmed.

My daughters original issues was her she couldn’t get lessons when she turned 17 due to Covid, the backlog for lessons was a year. Then she went to Uni so had to wait for to come home. So everything has been delayed, her next two years at Uni are at home, we live in the middle of nowhere. It’s very frustrating.

This is the same issue as with tickets for concerts but obviously more essential.
Bots are an enormous problem with spreading misinformation too.
The whole internet needs more regulation.

I was talking to an instructor about the examiner issue.

They need to raise the price of the test, which will enable them to obtain more examiners, which will help.

It's been £62 for a very long time - and given the cost of lessons and other costs of driving it's the smallest cost - it could go to £100 and the difference would be saved in 1 single driving lesson.

This all seems so easy to fix just by only allowing people to book one test at a time, and making them non-transferable. It would be dead easy to do - just link each test to a provisional license. It used to be that you booked when you were ready and had a test in a few weeks time.

It doesn't affect them directly so they can't be bothered. A system where only accredited instructors could book would make more sense.

my kids did their theory their birthday, went online the following Monday at 5.30 am, booked test 6 months ahead then got cancellation bringing it forward so they took 5 months from turning 17

but I agree the current system and wait times are appalling. You want to be able to learn then when ready book a test a couple of weeks away

It really needs sorting out. My DS has a test booked for Feb but not at his local centre. We try every day to change it on the Testi app but nothing comes up. I said on another thread the other day, I really hope they scrap the rule about having to retake the theory test within two years. It's so unfair.

There are two problems. The booking system, and the lack of test examiners in the first place. The former would be easier to sort out than the latter. People don't want to do it because it pays so badly.

Was also trying to book at 5.30 am this morning.

With ticket touts - they refused entry to those with touted tickets. That could be a solution.

Another example of how young people are failed, during Covid the needs of young people ignored. Due to covid regs record number of young people delayed learning. The reality is in order to improve job prospects they need to drive.

Ive had to stop pursuing learning to drive. I just can't afford to keep doing ticking over lessons and re doing my theory test when it expires because the whole system isn't working. I have spent thousands trying.

I've got three children one with additional needs so far less time to dedicate to learning and booking tests. But a whole lot more pressure if I was to get a test feeling it might be my one shot for months or even that year. I'm likely autistic so the whole sitting in a car with a stranger is hard for me anyway. The whole system just does not work at all. It's such a barrier to me getting on with my life but no matter what I do I can't get around it. It's so frustrating. Meanwhile life is getting more and more expensive.