More driving test changes: DVSA booking system overhaul aims to cut backlog

Learner drivers must now contend with even more practical driving test booking changes as the Government continues its plight against record waiting times and black-market scalping. In order to try and reduce the number of no-shows, novice motorists are, from today, only able to swap their slot to the three centres nearest to the one they had originally booked for their test. 

This change comes after figures obtained by the BBC showed 64,500 practical driving tests resulted in a no-show in 2025. It’s believed much of this is down to driving test resellers that use bots to buy up precious slots en masse. These are then resold nationwide at an inflated price – sometimes as high as £200. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Authority (DVSA) hopes that limiting where a test can be switched to will reduce the potential client base of resellers.

AA Driving School managing director Emma Bush told Auto Express: “Further tightening of the booking system is welcome if it helps stop resellers gaming the process and gives genuine learners a fairer chance of securing a test.”

But she added: “These changes must not be mistaken for a complete solution. Waiting times remain far too high, and the real test will be whether the DVSA can increase capacity, retain examiners and bring delays down in a meaningful and lasting way.”

In May, the DVSA implemented yet another rule change which meant that only learner drivers themselves are able to book a driving test. Historically, instructors and businesses could purchase tests on behalf of learner drivers and, up until January 2025, even for pupils not under their tuition.

Confused.com motoring expert Matt Crole-Rees described May’s rule-tightening as “another big shift for learners trying to get on the roads, especially following the earlier March changes that reduced the number of booking amendments allowed from six to two”. 

Other amendments introduced over the past year include new regulations regarding administration-fee visibility – charges must now be made abundantly clear at the point of booking. Additionally, the minimum notice period in which you can cancel your test before waiving your £62 booking fee has been extended to 10 working days, while learners can now only make two amendments to their test booking, down from six prior to March 2026.

With the AA Driving School highlighting how average test wait times had increased to more than 22 weeks by April 2026, the Government and DVSA’s approach to tackling the test backlog so far hasn’t escaped criticism. 

Speaking to Auto Express, a Driving Instructors Association (DIA) spokesperson described the implementation of March's new rules as “a farce”. They pointed out how the new test-swapping system requires both pupils to be on the phone at the same time and that “Despite the stated objective of the test booking changes being to halt the exploitation of the system by third parties, on day one of this change a rash of third-party sites were offering to assist with swaps – for a fee.”

The DIA also called any fixes to the booking system in general “a red herring”, explaining: “The DVSA has not been generating enough tests to meet demand, and a lot of that is down to examiner shortages, not how the test is booked and by whom.”

Aside from tightening the rules on bookings, the Government has previously stated it plans to recruit and train 450 driving examiners, a move which is intended to offset the roughly 130 staff the DVSA typically loses per year in resignations.

The DIA says that ensuring examiners are “better paid and provided with a better recruitment and training process” is the key to solving the test backlog, with the DVSA currently “leaking existing examiners out the other end of the funnel who are tired, stressed and don't feel adequately remunerated for their work”.

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