Any tried to book a driving test recently

[ladyb2gw]

I passed my test earlier this year. Booking an actual test was a nightmare. Have the changes made on the 01 May made any difference.

The panic over booking a test made everything so stressful.

From what I can gather from my friend’s son, it’s still difficult. He has his test at the end of July and failed. The following day, he went to book the next test available which was late December.

He’s managed yesterday to secure another date for next month but that’s from checking every day since 23rd July!

It’s a ridiculous situation. My Dh passed over 20’years ago, he failed his first then the next day booked another test two weeks later and passed. I had the added stress of knowing if I failed o could be waiting six months.

DC1 did their test in July. They swapped with one of their driving instructor’s other pupils. They booked in about May for a test many months ahead. It was a nightmare to book in originally and it took them several weeks to be near enough to the front of the queue to be able to book anything.

It’s now even harder to get a test. My son has failed 3 and theory test is about to run out as we have had to wait so long between tests and now can’t get another one. It’s a nightmare!!

Yes. Quite frankly I'd rather pay £60 to a bot than check 10+ times a day for a cancellation after only being able to get an appointment in 6 months time. DC2 has just retaken the theory as it had less than 4 months left and so we haven't been able to book a test at all - except it's been a week and the system hasn't updated and there's still no tests, anywhere. I can’t face checking it hourly again, having to do those stupid captchas and switching browsers because it thinks I'm a bot.

I can’t believe this is STILL happening. I remember hearing about it back in 2021 and thinking at least it’ll be fixed by the time my child is 17 in 2027….oh wait!

It’s the bot situation that pisses me off most of all, that has got to have been fixable within 5 years surely?!

I thought the bots had been stopped. I used an app called testswitch, pretty sure it’s gone now

Book a test???!!!
My DC can't even get on a waiting list for the waiting list for lessons in our area for a decent driving instructor. Yes, he could start next week with a poorly rated instructor but he doesn't want to waste money doing that and risk picking up bad habits or be made anxious by poor teaching attitudes.

I guess the main reason for the lack of instructors is mainly down to so many leaving the business, retiring etc but it's more likely that learners who could take their test are keeping up skills continuing lessons while waiting months for a test slot.
He's desperate to learn and we have a car ready for him but us taking him out only teaches the basics. At the moment it's at least 18 months to even get on a wait list to get on the proper list for lessons - it's ridiculous

My friend's son was on BBC news recently because the only way he could secure a practical driving test was to buy a slot from one of those bots. He did pass so in his case it felt worth it. But it's so unfair. The whole thing has gone completely backwards.

Honestly, in the UK we can't organise a piss up in a brewery.

I wondered about this when they said recently about 70+ having to retake tests regularly. What are they going to do about hundreds of OAPs needing tests too?? Can you drive while you're waiting for your re-test?? What a mess.

This was me. I probably had an extra four months of lessons to make sure I was ready to pass. If tests had been easy to get I would have tried much earlier

I'm not sure how these recent changes will improve anything surely its just tinkering around the edges. Unless they employ a load more examiners or pay them overtime to do test around the clock I'm not sure how the backlog can be reduced.

It's an absolutely ridiculous situation. I have 2 DC who are both having to re-take theory tests because their first theory test passes have expired. It wasn't their choice to have massive gaps between their driving tests! And going into a test thinking, "If I don't pass this time it'll likely be 6 months before I can try again" is really not helpful from the point of view of managing test nerves.

My instructor thinks changing the entire system would work better. Instructors signing off certain skills, eg 10 reverse parks perfectly and so on. Much like gcse coursework. Then shorter tests

@ladyb2gw I agree something radical is needed to resolve this

When we all have our driverless cars no tests or lessons will be needed. So much easier

My daughter managed to get one for November which is which is when her instructor suggested without too much problem.