Driving test tourism: Learner driver in London reveals the backlog for tests is so huge she booked one 260 miles away in CORNWALL and is turning the trip there into a mini holiday

The learner said that she’d been trying to get a London test date for weeks, but every time she tried to book one on the DVSA [Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency] site, on around 15 occasions, there were often ‘thousands’ of people in front of her in the queue.

Fed up with the ‘time-consuming and deeply frustrating’ process, she opted to book a test in Bodmin and visit relatives in Exeter during the trip south – driving test tourism, it would seem.

‘One of the days when I logged on at 6am there were more than 7,000 people ahead of me in the queue. Another day there were more than 5,000 people ahead of me.

‘Ideally, I would like to pass my test before mid-November when I am going travelling. Over the past few weeks I haven’t been able to get a test anywhere in London before the end of the year.

‘I booked a test in Bodmin for October 19 because it was the closest test centre to relatives who live in Exeter, and I can use their car – with insurance – for the exam.

‘There was no other availability in Devon or Cornwall before the end of the year when it was booked.’

The learner said that she’s looking to stay in an Airbnb in Bodmin before her test so that she can practise driving around the local roads, an added expense on top of the cost of insurance and the £62 test fee.

The learner has tried using an app called ‘Testi’ to secure a test date in London, but to no avail.

She said: ‘This basically scours the DVSA booking site and lets me see if any of the four test centres nearest to me – Tottenham, Wood Green, Wanstead and Chingford – have any availability.

‘It is pretty useless though with the current situation. I’ve been refreshing the app repeatedly and the only time it showed me a free slot for a test was for January 2024.’

She added: ‘The situation puts so much pressure on people taking tests as if they fail, they’re looking at waiting half a year for another test slot.’

One reason for the backlog is that hundreds of thousands of tests were cancelled during the Covid lockdown.

Before 2020 the average wait time for a test was just six weeks.

The learner driver said: ‘I booked a test in Bodmin [above] for October 19 because it was the closest test centre to relatives who live in Exeter, and I can use their car -with insurance – for the exam’

The DVSA said that waiting times are also being exacerbated by an increase in demand, sustained industrial action on civil service pay and people’s concerns about not being able to book a test, which has led to a change in customers’ behaviour.

DVSA Chief Executive Loveday Ryder said: ‘We are taking all the measures we can to reduce driving test waiting times, including recruiting almost 500 new driving examiners and creating more than one million new tests since 2021, and we strongly urge learners only to book their driving test when they are ready to Pass.’

Camilla Benitz, AA Driving School Managing Director, said: ‘It’s unacceptable that the driving test backlog is still tarnishing so many people’s financial and employment prospects.

‘We have heard many cases from the “Covid generation” of young people who were forced to make do with disruption to their education, and are now finding their employment prospects have shifted because the lack of driving tests meant they had to put lessons on hold.

‘The DVSA’s own survey data reflects that the most common reason learners are taking an extended break from lessons is because of problems getting a test.

‘There simply are not enough examiners and test slots to meet demand and only a concerted effort from government will make a real difference with this issue. Hiring and retaining driving test examiners, increased visibility of test waiting times and availability, and definitive measures to block bots and reselling practices are only a few ways the backlog might be cleared.’