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

[Iwantatest]

You literally can’t book a test thanks to bots and block booking. Go it on at 6 and just put in a 20 000 queue going down very slowly.Even if I was to get on it would be 6 months.

They know bots and block booking are a problem so why aren’t they sorting it?

They're really letting young people down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn09v4d2xe7o

As seen on the BBC News website this morning. Your prayers are being answered, OP

How will they enforce that I wonder?

If the school of motoring have the learners details what’s stopping them from booking a test for their pupils?

Reputable schools wont do that and any who do, the payment details would be business, not individual, which can be blocked.

This could be a bit of an issue. It's no good booking a test and then finding that your instructor is not available at that time slot.

My son's instructor books tests and then moves them round his pupils. He knows he's available and if someone isn't ready or something comes up he can move the slots around.

It's a real shame that so many people out there have abused the system so he will now have to change how he operates.

The fact that there is still a backlog from COVID after nearly 6 years is ludicrous though and not just down to unscrupulous instructors and bots. I wonder if we will still be discussing in a year's time.

True. It’s difficult to know without figures how much of it down to bots/inflated resellers and how much is simply down to a growing backlog. I would be interested to know what percentage of booked tests have been booked via a third party. Even if the reselling issue is solved, wait times will surely still remain the same.

@dynamiccactus that’s what the school of motoring that we use do. It works well. High first time pass rate so a very efficient use of the available test slots.

When I booked my sons test 2 years ago I put his driving instructor’s code in (can’t remember what the official term of the code is) which checks whether they have a test booked at the same time. I thought this was compulsory but when I booked my daughter’s test a couple of weeks back it was only optional - I didn’t check with DD instructor because I saw a really good test time so just booked it as thought I can change it if needed, obviously wouldn’t have done this if we only had 2 chances to change it! I’d checked with DS instructor planned holiday etc before I booked but if you’re having to book 5 months in advance anyway there’s still a risk that they’re not available for some reason! It’s all pretty crap!