To be FURIOUS at the DVSA test booking system - DS test cancelled at last minute after being booked for MONTHS!

[SophieFee]

DS passed his theory beginning of July! Earliest test date was the end of November!

Through blood, sweat and tears, via one of these cancellation apps, we managed to get an earlier test (next week)! This has been booked for months! Despite earlier tests pinging up occasionally I was never ‘fastest finger first’ - (which is something you need to be first to book the cancelled spot)!

DS was ready to take his practical at the end of August but due to this shockingly long wait for tests, we just had to go with it!

Today, less than a week before his test was due an email comes through stating that the examiner is now no longer available on that date - next available date early December!

We’re livid, will continue to use the cancellation app but it’s just so frustrating that there’s nothing we can do! It costs hundreds of pounds to learn and then once you’re ready you can’t get a test until months later!!

AIBU to think that the whole DVSA site requires a complete overhaul, where tests cannot be block booked by companies (BBC article I will try and source) therefore, leaving those who are ready not able to get a test for months!!

I'm interested - not being an arse - do you need to keep up the momentum? So that's the additional cost? I think because I have a medical condition which banned me from driving I've planned my life around it and accept buses etc iyswim. I don't mean that in a patronising way, more in an honest way.

@MarvellousMariella1 yes you need to keep practicing and preferably having lessons otherwise you get rusty very quickly or if not having proper lessons can slip into bad habits and are less likely to pass the test when it eventually happens . Also the theory test you need to take , which is different every time , only lasts 2 yrs , so if you fail a couple of tests , which is common and have to wait 6 months for a new test you could easily need to resit your theory . The rough averages for driving test passes is 48% and it’s the same for the theory test . This is not a simple thing to do and lots of people fail who could just have easily have passed, there is an element of luck , which examiner you get etc . My daughter failed her first test last year on ‘ hesitation’ which basically meant she had to pull into a queue of traffic and nobody would let her in , another day the queue wouldn’t have been there - it’s luck ( or a shitty examiner ) . Learning to drive can be very expensive and very stressful .

Depends.
My sons job offer depending on him having a driving licence...

That makes sense! I passed first time and to this day don't know how😂

Yes, that’s exactly it.

We’ve now got to continue paying for driving lessons, thankfully (with the help of a 0% credit card, paying for lessons in bulk to get a reduced rate) we’re able to ‘just’ about do this but it’s a nightmare! Don’t want all the invaluable practice going to waste.

And it’s frustrating as there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it! DS was ready and keen for his test next week then BOOM, nope don’t think so.

I wonder why the examiners are suddenly unavailable as it seems to happen quite frequently!

I sympathise OP.

Not sure of your ds situation, but we are so rural that if dd couldn't drive, she couldn't get a job or go and see friends, so it was imperative that she passed ASAP, to all those scoffing at the OPs stress levels.

@MarvellousMariella1 it's downright ridiculous. OP's DC is test ready, wants to be able to drive and can't get a test. That's not tedium. That could mean turning down a job!

Exactly! We live in quite a rural location, buses constantly running late or cancelled last minute, (and many only run every hour) trains cancelled etc. He currently relies on us to taxi him to many places, sometimes this isn’t possible due to work commitments, so it’s essential that at some point he can drive himself to future jobs, he currently attends college four times a week, he’s in his final year, so hopefully he will be able to pass by next September!

This happened to my daughter last year and the rescheduled date was the morning after her 18th birthday. I called up and asked to reschedule (I said she had a school exam) and the lady on the phone had loads of alternative slots to offer her, none of which I'd been able to see online. So it might be worth calling up with a 'story' to try and get an earlier slot. You definitely are in a different category of booking priority if your test has been cancelled by the examiner.

I wasn’t aware that you could speak to a person? It all seems to be online….off to check.

I have no idea why there is so much backlog. Can't all be Covid related. Why can't they train more examiners?

The BBC covered an article about this! Sites buying up the tests to sell on at a profit!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clkypgwnkg4o.amp

The driving test situation is crazy. I stalked multiple apps for ages when DS took his test - this was over a year ago now, so the situation will only have got worse. Plenty of DS's friends have now gone off to uni so who knows when they'll be able to get tests. They were ready to take it but just couldn't get one before going and driving will drop off their radar as students.

We were lucky as we are SE and it was a 6 month wait . My daughters first test was booked in early April and it was for late September , fortunately her driving instructor was very proactive in a WhatsApp group with other driving instructors who regularly swap tests between clients so she took her first test at the beginning of august , which she failed . We then rebooked and the earliest we could eventually get for where we wanted was early Jan 24 ( we’d booked up country in Nov originally with the plan to move it ) . Fortunately again the driving instructor got her a test for the start of October which she passed .

Training more examiners just results in larger numbers of driving test instructors.

Being a driving test examiner requires basically the same skills as a driving instructor, and driving instructors in the southeast can earn a lot more. That is because driving test examiners are public sector employees and their wages are set roughly at a national level, with only small differences by region. Driving test instructors are private sector employees, and their wages can rise as high as the market requires. Therefore, in the southeast, people with the right skills choose to be driving test instructors for the most part.

The solution is to allow driving test examiners’ pay to rise as per the market, meaning that they will get much higher wages in the southeast, and perhaps people in the SE need to pay for for their driving tests to cover this. As I mentioned, though, the British tend to dislike regional pricing for things and are prone to saying “post code lottery!!”a lot when this happens, so improving this situation will mean getting over this barrier.

But the issue isn't just in SE.

Exactly @lemonyellows it’s the same here in the impoverished, undesirable and undeserving West Midlands 🙄

0300 200 1122 this is the phone number I was given. Make sure you speak to an actual human. Hope it works.

Thank you. I think this is only if they’ve not given you three clear working days before your test. Reading the cancellation email this is how it reads.

Was this what happened in your case?

Yes, there are issues in many locations due to the COVID backlog which never got cleared. However, the issue is much worst in the southeast (and Midlands to a lesser extent).

This figure shows that changes in waittimes over the last couple of years; it's got better in quite a lot of the north, but is getting worse in the SE and much of the Midlands.