New driving test wait times plan: only learners can make bookings and military called-in

The Government has announced it is deploying a platoon of driving examiners from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as part of new measures to try and address the massive backlog of driving tests. 

The 36 driving examiners from the MoD’s School of Transport, who usually only test service personnel, will be sent to the driving test centres with the highest demand near their home or base. The hope is they will conduct 6,500 additional tests over the next year. 

Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander told the Transport Committee that the DVSA conducted a record 1.96 million driving tests last year, and delivered 42,000 more between June and September this year than over the same period in 2024.

She also said the DVSA had successfully recruited 316 new driving examiners, although due to the number that have left, the net gain has only been just over 40 examiners. 

To encourage driving examiners to stay in their job or delay retirement, Alexander announced they will receive an "extraordinary retention payment” of £5,000 from next year.

Meanwhile, to address the issue of bots and scammers taking and re-selling tests at hugely inflated prices, the transport secretary announced a legislative change that will mean only learner drivers themselves can book a test. 

They’ll also only be allowed to make two changes to their driving test booking, including moving or swapping dates, and changing the location. Any more, and the test must be cancelled and rebooked. 

Those that do need to rebook their test will be offered a limited number of test centres, and only ones close to the original booking.

Earlier this year, Auto Express reported driving test slots were being resold for as much as £200, compared with the £62 or £75 the DVSA actually charges learners. 

“It’s been adding insult to injury, to be honest, because people are having to wait a long time for the test,” the Transport Secretary told the committee. “Then some people are also, if they’re availing themselves of these bots, having to fork out a huge amount of money. 

“It feels totally wrong on both levels. That’s why we’re taking the action we’ve announced today.”

This news comes just after Loveday Ryder, chief executive of the DVSA, announced she is leaving the agency. The Transport Secretary said she will be looking to Ryder’s successor to “really get a grip on the issue of driving test wait times” and that it will be a top priority for the organisation. 

Despite these new measures, Alexander admitted to the committee the DVSA might not be able to reduce the wait times for driving tests to seven weeks by the end of summer 2026, as promised. It had hoped to achieve this by the end of this year, but in April it pushed that deadline back.

According to the National Audit Office, as of April this year the average waiting time for a driving test across the UK was 22 weeks.

“I need to be honest with all committee members that I can’t sit here today and tell you I’m going to meet the summer 2026 deadline either,” Alexander said. “Demand is still very high and the approaches that the DVSA have taken so far have not been up to meeting this level of demand.”

When asked by what point the DfT now expects to meet this target for waiting times, the Transport Secretary responded: “I’m not in a position to give you a date sat here today. What I can tell you is that I will be working with the new leadership of the DVSA to make sure we’re not leaving any stone unturned in how we might address this issue.”

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