Driving tests?

[theferry]

I’m posting here as we’re based in NE Scotland. Does anyone have advice on booking driving tests? We were told that they’re released at 6am on Mondays, but there’s been nothing for months. I’m wondering if they’ve changed the routine? Tried booking for other local test centres but theyre just as bad. I know new rules have come in that means you can’t use the apps that find cancellations for you.

It must be so frustrating.

Crazy situation. Ds passed last year on his second attempt. I work at a desk and he works on a building site so I used to check the dvla website about 10 times a day. I was totally obsessed. Eventually I got locked out for checking so often. Had to start using my phone and luckily got a cancellation appointment completely randomly during my tea break one day. And thank goodness he passed. I would have cried if I'd had to start all over again.

It's a total nightmare.

So my advice would be to try at all sorts of random times of the day. But that only works if you're actually able to keep checking.

Why is it so bad at the moment?
Mine are a bit older so have done their driving tests when it was 3-4 months wait (post COVID) but could at least book the slots.

I thought the number of youngsters was falling so there would be less demand? Is there not enough examiners or is it the booking system?

As you are now only allowed to choose your nearest 3 centres one of ours is the Isle of Arran which doesn’t even do full time everyday tests so this seems very unfair to those in our area.

we have been fairly lucky ( although it’s been quite a full time job it feels ) originally we had an August date but managed to get a mid May cancellation but she failed it. Then got a November date and 2 weeks ago manages to get a cancellation for last Thursday (at a different test centre to first one) and she passed thank goodness so we are out the dreaded system now !

We did use the Testi app. It just gives you alerts when tests are available but you then need to be quick and log into the DVLA site and hope they are still there. It literally is fastest finger first.

I found that when there was lots starting to pop up on Testi I would log into dvla and then just stay logged in and hope something useful popped up which it did for last weeks and then you were able to click and get it immediately

We didn’t use Testi to book the test. We just used it as an indication that tests were coming up and then we booked directly via the DVSA site.

Doesn't matter. Dvsa have said being registered to use the app might lead to tests being cancelled. Just be aware.

their instructions are to deregister any account and delete the app. Testi have always just shown availability rather than auto booking a test but it does seem that dvsa are treating them as part of the problem , which I can understand.

That's not my understanding of the new rules. You can still book a test anywhere in the country. But can then only move it to the three closest test centres to the original booking. So very confusing!

Ultimately the problem is the number of tests available. The government have tweaked how the booking process works, and how much you pay for a test (e.g. direct is lower than via an app), but that doesn't fix the underlying issue of not enough tests.

If anything, it has made it more difficult. Removing apps to find cancellations means you have to constantly check the site yourself. Do that a few times and you get blocked as suspicious and have to wait to be unblocked.

I complained to my MP and was told that the changes would start to filter through. But how, if the same number of tests are available?

I am finding this beyond infuriating.

I wholeheartedly agree with them blocking any form of testi functionality. Why should someone paying an app get any form of advantage over those who cannot afford it?

Oh really? My nephew has booked something 150 miles away because he thought that would get him in the system and he'd be able to swap for something closer. But now he's stuck with a test 100+ miles away? What a shambles.

I wonder how you become a driving examiner? Maybe I should change career. With 3 kids I wondered about investing in becoming a driving instructor but quickly realised I don't have a very calm personality.

I'm sorry for anyone still trying to navigate this. It's a nightmare.

There has been absolutely no benefit with the changes so far.
In fact, it's made things worse.
At least with Testi or other apps, you knew a test had become available on the dvsa website and had a chance of securing one . Now, you just have to randomly log in and hope for the best. Which isn't working for dc. Logging on at 0545am Monday does nothing either - 25,000 in the queue 🙄.
The dvsa need to have their own app, much like testi that alerts learners of cancellations. Priority should be given to people who actually live in the area of the test centre too. Ours gets booked up with people travelling from miles away because the roads are 'easier'.

This makes zero sense though. Testi was £12 ( I think). One off payment. It's small change when compared to the driving test cost ( which over half of people have to pay more than once ). Plus driving lessons ( or fuel/ insurance if you're learning with a family member) . If you can't afford £12, how have you afforded to learn to drive in the first place.

Why should you have to pay a private company £12 to access a state run service?

Agreed, you shouldn't have too. But happy to do so when the state run service is such a shit show that they are still blaming a pandemic from 6 years ago for their incompetence. If they'd actually fixed the problem with these changes, I'd be happy. But as it stands they haven't. 1000's of learners are still completely unable to book a driving test at all. Completely booked up for the next 24 weeks and little hope of securing one when your 25000 in a queue. Interestingly, oldest dc didn't have this issue in 2023. We'd had a pandemic then too and the covid backlogs would have been more of an issue then than now. So I think the govt are placing blame where it doesn't belong. They need more examiners, to make it easier for these people to get their training, pay them better etc etc.

I thought it was mainly many more immigrants who were wanting UK drivers licence’s. Students, etc. maybe they changed the rules as to how long you could drive in the UK on an overseas driving licence. Either way they need to recruit far more inspectors. But they can’t be bothered doing that.

Is there nothing people won’t blame in immigration.

Becoming a driving examiner takes ages, it also not particularly well paid and it strikes me as a boring job (no offence intended). You can make more money as a driving instructor

The system needs to completely change, maybe driving instructors could sign off certain skills, for example ten perfect reverse park, driving on the motorway, so on and so forth (a bit like gcse and a level course work)

It is a nightmare.

that's one thing it's trying to stop though - people thinking that they can book tests anywhere then move them closer. Ds gets three options of test centres when trying to get a cancellation - the three closest to the original booking We aren't looking to
move locations though.

i think it will take a while for the changes to really take effect in test availability. In the meantime we are stuck with this shambles

I’m not being anti-immigration, the government gave the increase in non-EU migration as a big factor in the massive test queues, along with the post-covid backlog, a shortage on examiners and apps like testi exploiting the system and locking learners out of being able to book. There were 64,000 no shows at driving tests in the UK last year, the majority of which were thought to be down to apps buying them up and not being able to sell them on.

I've been trying all week to get a cancellation with no luck. I've been blocked several times.

Today I have tried only 3 times since 7am to look for a cancellation and am now blocked again.

I've lost all faith in the Monday morning saga, having tried for 6 weeks running now and tested a variety of tactics. Time to join the site trying between 5.15am and 5.50am, refreshing or not refreshing, waiting on the 'back at 6am' and being in an actual queue, etc. Nothing works, I'm still too far back in the queue or at 6am I am blocked.

I just despair. I would pay much more than £12 to get access to a test at this point!!!!!!!!!!

So another go this week. I got lucky and timed the queue to arrive on the site at 6.01am. I felt so optimistic. However, there was only ONE test date available at my local test centre, and not even for the week that they are batch releasing which I believe is the first week of January.

Anyway, I clicked on that one date, which was 9th December at 10.05am, and it had gone.

So where were all the test dates for the batch release? There weren't any for the surrounding test centres either. This feels completely impossible. I tried many many times last week, sometimes getting blocked, looking for a cancellation and didn't see a single one.

Yup. Totally impossible. A whole generation of kids prevented from the government from gaining even the most basic of accreditation. It’s outrageous.

Interestingly, oldest dc didn't have this issue in 2023

This is so true. My eldest was 17 in March 2020 and for him it was getting a slot at a theory centre which was difficult because of the scottish government's rules about social distancing. Through spring/summer 2021 there were kids from here going as far as Brighton and London to sit theory tests. DS had a slot the week before we were going on holiday to Devon and we'd already looked at slots in Exeter if he'd failed. But after that getting a practical test slot in his chosen centre was OK. He failed twice and we managed to get cancellations quite easily, he had tests in January, March and June 2022.

DD was 17 later in 2022 and by then the theory slots were fine, the second she had passed we booked a practical slot in our preferred centre for about 5 months in the future, she sat her test and passed but there was still OK availability for cancellations and moving slots.

Youngest child was 17 in June 2025, he sat and passed his theory the day after his birthday and we spent about 3 weeks looking for a slot. Eventually got one at Shieldhall which is not our local centre, during rush hour. We thought we'd be able to change it but literally nothing came up in the full 6 months we were trying. So he ended up having to do the test, and luckily passed.

This lack of availability has NOTHING to do with the pandemic. It has everything to do with a shit system which allows driving instructors and others to block book tests and this has been exploited by people buying slots and reselling them. There are not enough testers as the salary is barely more than minimum wage and if you have the qualifications, you're better off as an instructor. The only way it;s going to get better is by only allowing learners themselves to book one slot with a theory pass and by recruiting more examiners. This may have to mean that people pay more for tests.

It's absolutely shocking isn't it. Yet the 'news' will no doubt be reporting about how the new rules make the system better and more tests are available. Which just isn't the case. The most frustrating thing is that if Testi was still available, we'd have a test booked for next month by now.

Yes I do feel that if I could use an app I would have been able to get a test by now. I would pay a considerable sum to be able to do that at this point. Constant checking is getting me nowhere but blocked. The Monday morning thing is a total farce, I'm sick of it all. And yes I fully expect some spin on it being a great move forward. There aren't enough tests, that's the bottom line.

I've lost count of the number of times we've been locked out of the website temporarily.
How are people even getting tests or cancellations. There's never anything there.