PCS pressure leads to driving test rules change
Only learner drivers will be able to book driving tests following hard work and campaigning by PCS reps and members at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency aimed at reducing long waiting lists and preventing slots being sold at inflated prices.
PCS emphasised to the parliamentary transport select committee last year that the DVSA had failed to take decisive action against the number of tests that third-party sites can block-book using a singular driving licence number. We have consistently raised a wide range of issues that affect our DVSA members, who carry out driving tests and approve people to be driving instructors.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said today that limiting third parties from reselling slots would stop people being "exploited" by online bots.
But she admitted to MPs on the transport committee that waiting times for driving tests would not be brought down to seven weeks by summer 2026, the most recent deadline she set. The average waiting time was 21.8 weeks at the end of June.
Currently, instructors can book tests on behalf of their students, but this will be banned as part of the changes. Limits will also be placed on the number of times a driver can move or swap a test, and the area they can move a test to once they have booked it.
We believe learner drivers only booking their tests will give a true picture of the waiting times and prevent third-party agencies from overpricing learner driver tests, and selling to the highest bidder, making the testing system fair again.
We have long suspected that one of the contributing factors to waiting lists being too long is third parties disingenuously buying up multiple tests on learner drives as licences without them even knowing, and then reselling those tests at a higher rate.