Can't find a driving test

[Jobs4kids]

DD unfortunately failed her driving test after a year of lessons. This was partly due to being unable to find an earlier test date as she had been ready for a while but made a silly mistake on the day annoyingly. Since then we've been online multiple times a day to find a new test (hopefully a cancellation) but can't find anything, even months away. I know they release new dates at 6am Monday morning and yet again I've been online as soon as bookings opened and still nothing. I did actually find one test for next month which would've been perfect but the system wouldn't let me complete the booking even though it said I had 15 mins! (Next step remained greyed out so the system must've crashed/frozen). I'm so frustrated as meanwhile it's costing us a fortune in lessons. We live in greater London which I guess must been busier than most but this is ridiculous. I struggled to book her last test but its got much worse since then, I literally can't find ANYTHING, even months away.

I know there are apps that are meant to alert you of cancellations but I've no idea which ones are any good, if any. Instructor has no idea, just said keep trying 😡

Help!

Oh I hear you - booking driving tests has been the bane of my life for my son who has his 4th test in a few weeks! Our local test centre covers a huge urban area so tests go very quickly.

Every time I booked anywhere (Worcester is good). Then sat on Testi for hours and leapt on anything that came up. Notifications were useless as the test had long gone by the time I got it. You can change your test up to 6 times so I just kept slowly pulling it back. Started with April and got it back to end of Nov.

He can also only do Saturdays’s until his annual leave refreshes in Jan - and they are like rocking horse poo! But I got him one through brute determination 🤣!

Also, if you get blocked (as I did many a time!) unplug your router for a few hours and then you get a new IP address and can get back on. My son thought it was hilarious that I got blocked for being a potential bot!

I don’t see how this is true though.

You have to book the test with your name, you can’t sit a test with someone else’s name on it. Who are the bots booking tests for? Anyone claiming to get you a test is probably a scammer or using the same free chrome extension anyone can use.

I just think there are a lot of people that want tests and are really good at getting them! For example DP was able to get his 3 months earlier with the chrome extension.

Probably what happened is that there was the Covid backlog so people started booking their test as soon as they started lessons, meaning more people are failing so there are more tests required.

DVLA need to cancel any tests that have been booked in anyway other than the official site. As long as people kept on using third party applications, the problem will never be solved.

The third parties make money by adding to the chaos, bookers make it worse by using them. It’s like being scalped by a ticket reseller.

I believe work is ongoing in DVLA at the moment that will stop this little racket

Once they're ready for a test they shouldn't need more lessons in between Just get booked in again ASAP.

There are 10 released each Monday at 6am where I am, they are all gone by 1 minute past. They are currently releasing tests for May.

It's just crazy. Testi hasn't been at all worth it for us as it triggers the DVLA security check every time and then the test is gone.

I have the Testi app set to the four nearest driving test centres and have never been offered a test. My DS ended up having to wait six months between his first and second test. On the plus side, by the time he took it the second time he was such a good driver that he didn't get any minors at all. It's reassuring to know that he's a safe driver but it did cost a lot in driving lessons while we were waiting for the second test.

You are booking directly though, the apps just alert new tests becoming live, you still have to go through and rebook via DVLA website. Using Testi is free, they made not a penny from me but really really helped find a cancellation.

It's become ridiculous but my son used the Lidt app. He failed the first one and they had multiple tests available, even before the requisite 2 weeks or so that he had to wait to resit.

It's crying out for regulation but I guess you either join the madness or wait months...