How the heck do we get a driving test booked?

[JustJane73]

DD passed her theory today so we have popped on to the government website to book her practical. We knew there was a bit of a waiting time and was expecting dates for end of the year but we have put every month in up until July 2026 and no dates have been found anywhere within miles of where we live.

What do we do? Is anyone else currently in this situation? Is it going to have to be a laborious task of checking all day, every day until a date becomes available?

I read somewhere they release new tests every Monday

Also there is an app, sorry not sure what it’s called but it gives you peoples cancellations, I believe you have to pay for the app and you have to get in there quick once it sends you a notification of a test but a lot of people get them this way

This won’t work for everyone but we found a test hundreds of miles away then signed up to Testi and entered the details but requested a test nearer on dates to suit. Ds passed his theory in March and then his test in June. We just enabled notifications on the testi app for when any cancellations came up and pounced

Just googled, the app is called testi

My ds booked one for the other end of the country then went on the website at 5.45 to exchange it for a nearer one. He tried an app but they didn't seem to work.

5.45 on a Monday. Tried it 2 weeks running the second monday was a bank holiday. There seemed to be a lot more on the bank hol. Maybe everyone else was having a lie in.

Just before 6 am on Monday , book one anywhere and then try to move it closer using Testi , you can only ever book 6 months in advance

6am Monday morning get in the queue with several thousand others. Book a test anywhere even if hundreds of miles away.

If you can't get one on a Monday at 6 am then keep refreshing and checking back as often as you can until you've got one.

Then get one of the apps that auto books and set it up to try and swap your test for one nearer to you. You can't join the apps unless you already have a test booked.

Sadly there is no 'popping on to the website to book a test'.

New tests are released at 6am on a Monday morning. Log in around 5.45am and you will join a queue.

If you do get to the front of the queue, and there are some slots available, do not dilly dally to think about whether 8am or 11am would suit you best. Just book it as fast as you can and worry about the date/timing later.

Once you have a test booked, there are currently various apps that will let you try and swap/change to a different test centre or date. We used Testi (never managed to get a change and by the time the notification came through, the slot had always gone) and Test Shift (did get a swap here, they hold it for you for 15 mins when they send the notifications). Others apps are available. The govt has been saying they are cracking down on apps and bots and such like for the past year but I've not seen any evidence of that yet.

There are also many Facebook pages offering to sell or swap tests. Some do what they say on the tin, others are total scams and just take your money with no tests available.

DD1 finally passed 3rd time earlier this year and I had high hopes that wait times etc would be better by the time DD2 needed a test but DD 2 is 17 in Feb and if anything it's just seems to be getting worse despite all the govt promises of extra examiners and cracking down on bots.

I don't think the testi app auto books. We used driving scout.

What are her friends doing, ime 17 year olds are all pretty clued up on the book a test anywhere then get the app to auto nab you one where you actually want to go

I don’t think it’s worth booking one just anywhere, as you still have to join the 6am Monday queue to change a test or book a test.
Last week I got logged on at 6.01 am and was 19801 in the queue. It was going down by about 4000 per 15 minutes and I thought there would be nothing left, but plenty in my local centre when I made the top of the q at 7.15am for the week in January they have just opened up.

Think it’s now harder than getting Glastonbury tickets! 🤣

I don’t think the apps are any help unless you watch them all the time and have ability to log straight online.

I got one super easy by just going on random times of day at work and stuff when I had a minute and cancellations would just appear and you’d need to be quick
to grab them !!

got one within the first few hours of trying on day 1

That’s not true I can change mine any time at all have done it twice without being on that Monday queue ?

the Monday thing is new dates and times being released I think??

i was logged on and got a cancellation just a random time of day while I was at work and checking in the background

Not true. You can change or book a test at any time if there's one become available. The Monday morning queue is because they release the new test slots then.

Thanks everyone, what a bloody faff. We'll try first thing Monday and hope we can find something. Thanks for the advice regarding the apps, I've passed it all on to dd.

That's not how it works, no one I've spoken to about this had to do that, tests come up on the apps at random times and you have to be either quick to accept or have it set to do it automatically

I think you're doing the apps wrongly

I’ve just gone through this 18 months apart with my 2.
For both of them I just had to keep checking to book a test anywhere in the country.
Once I had a test booked I download an app, for the first one I did Driving test now (£18 I think) and that was brilliant, you put in what test centres you wanted and dates and it auto rebooked when one became available ( took a week max) then I assumed I could do the same 18 months later but that app was no longer taking on new clients as they had such a back log of people waiting for tests.
So I used Testi which was cheaper but shitter as it didn’t auto rebook, just notified me when a slot became available ( and then I knew I was competing against the auto rebook apps, so for weeks I was never quick enough!!)
It all worked out in the end and after a few weeks I got a local test that worked.
I know everyone says Monday 6am etc, but I found the most movement/availabilty was weds around 10am?!

Run the Google Chrome extension DVSA booking helper - you need to read all the instructions which can be found by searching the r/LearnerDriverUK subreddit. It runs the searches for you and refreshes the DVSA website on set intervals on the test centres list page. When it finds a test or cancellation, it grabs it and holds it for you for 15 mins so you can complete.

It's free and I used it to find 4 tests over 4 months, all cancellations each time. I never got up at 6am on a Monday, cancellations come up at any time of the day. You just run it in the background on a laptop while you're watching TV or doing something else.

The DVSA's anti-bot software will chuck you out occasionally and block your IP, but just follow the instructions on the Reddit post to get back in. Switch between incognito mode, normal mode in browser and between your mobile hotspot and your WiFi when it kicks you out - that gets around it.

You can also just refresh the DVSA website on your phone to find tests - I was lucky with my final test to get a random cancellation at 6:20pm. Don't refresh it too often or it blocks your IP.

I never had a single test off any of the apps and I paid for two of them, but this way I could usually reliably get another test within a week - usually within 3 weeks of the day I looked.

My dd went on early Monday morning booked a test a couple hours away in 6 months time . She then checked regularly for cancellations and got one locally 2 weeks later

Book for any available test you can get even if its months away. Once you have one booked, then use the testi app for cancellations. I would refresh the app multiple times. They do come up, you just have to be really on it.

Ds found a random test miles away and booked that and then bought an app called test shift where you can put in your preferred test centre, it will then alert you to available tests at your chosen centre which you then have 15 minutes to accept. You can't use test shift until you have a test booked already. We booked a test in Bangor in October but managed to get a test at preferred test centre in July.

tests are released at 6am on Monday. Booking for Jan 2026 atm. You will need to set a log in and be in from about 5am.
just book for anywhere. You can’t get a cancellation until you have something booked.
Hope you find one

I used the app that automatically books tests /cancelations when they are made available. Got one in few weeks x

Get one booked and then use the Testi app to see when a cancellation becomes available and be ready to pounce on it when it does.