Driving test rules are being changed in a bid to reduce waiting lists and prevent slots being sold at inflated prices. In recent years we’ve seen a flurry of online ‘bots’ booking the sought after slots automatically. These are then sold on to learner riders/drivers for up to £500 by private companies. The standard fee is £62 for a weekday slot, or £75 for an evening or weekend, but some learners appear to be willing to pay the inflated fees, just to avoid the long waiting list.

New rules announced by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander mean only learner drivers will be able to book test slots themselves. Instructors will no longer be able to book tests on their behalf and a limit will be placed on the number of times a learner can move or swap a test.

The average waiting time for a driving test was 21.8 weeks at the end of June. In an attempt to cut waiting times, the DVSA has recruited an extra 316 examiners, and another 36 will be transferred from the Ministry of Defence, with examiners also offered a ‘retention payment’ of £5000 to dissuade them from leaving.

At the BMF, chair Jim Freeman said: “In some respects this feels like the clock being wound back. The professionalisation of training and testing, which has crept over from the car world, has led to the assumption that tests are things that a driving school books. This is an attempt to deal with the consequences. Will it work? Will the extraordinary delay on testing be reduced? Obviously time will tell. When I took my bike test, long , long ago, there was no alternative to booking it yourself, unlike a car test. The delay was about 3 weeks. That said we all had our own bikes and there was no pursuit testing, just the ancient ‘Ride around the block 3 times, when the examiner indicates , do an emergency stop. Then you’ll need to keep pace with the examiner as he walks next to you. Demonstrate observation and signalling clearly. Try not to do a nasty injury to the examiner with your front numberplate during the emergency stop! [That’s supposed to be a joke… JF]”

Written by Peter Henshaw

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