06/09/2026
🚨 DRIVING TEST CRISIS – SEPTEMBER UPDATE 🚨
Back in March, I wrote about the DVSA changes to driving test bookings.
At the time, I said these changes wouldn’t solve the real problem.
Well… here we are in September.
And what has actually changed?
✅ We’re STILL using instructors’ WhatsApp groups to match learners with test dates.
And do you know what?
IT WORKS.
Instructors are helping each other swap tests so learners can take their test when they are actually READY.
We’re doing this free of charge and putting learners in the right position to have the best possible chance of passing.
But the waiting situation?
Still absolutely horrendous.
Last Monday, we were seeing figures of around 22,000 people waiting to book a test in Northampton.
Think about that.
22,000 people.
And yet the DVSA continues to make changes around how tests can be booked and moved.
🚨 AND HERE’S ANOTHER BIG PROBLEM…
The cancellation rules were changed so that learners now need to give 10 full working days’ notice to change or cancel their test and receive a refund.
And I honestly think this has created another unintended problem.
There are learners who simply don’t turn up for their test.
Why?
Because they’ve already lost their money.
If you’ve already accepted that you’re not getting your test fee back, what’s the incentive to go online and cancel?
There isn’t one.
Under the old system, where you could cancel with around 3 working days’ notice and still get your money back, a learner who realised they weren’t ready could cancel the test.
That test slot could then potentially be made available to someone else.
One cancellation could put another learner into that seat.
Now, if someone realises they’re not ready after the 10-working-day cut-off, they may simply think:
“I’ve lost the money anyway. I’ll just not turn up.”
And that means a perfectly valuable test appointment can be wasted.
Multiply that across test centres every single day and ask yourself:
Is this really helping reduce the waiting times?
Because the DVSA needs to look at the number of empty test slots as well as the number of people waiting.
And then there’s the swapping issue…
A learner might have a test booked months away.
They might then realise they need another 3 or 4 lessons before they’re genuinely test-ready.
Previously, an instructor could help find a suitable swap.
That’s not instructors trying to cheat the system.
That’s instructors trying to STOP learners going to test before they’re ready.
Because what happens if you remove that flexibility?
Some learners will simply think:
“I’ve waited months. I’m going anyway.”
And that could mean:
❌ More learners taking tests before they’re ready
❌ More failures
❌ More rebookings
❌ More wasted test appointments
❌ More pressure on an already overloaded system
And here’s the irony…
Instructors across the country are still using WhatsApp groups to help match learners with suitable test dates.
We’re doing what we can to make the system work.
But we shouldn’t have to.
The DVSA needs to provide enough tests to meet demand.
And let’s be honest about how we got here:
1️⃣ Covid backlog
2️⃣ Examiner shortages and strikes
3️⃣ Recruitment and retention problems
4️⃣ Years of poor management and planning
5️⃣ Not enough test capacity for demand
And now?
Instructors are still helping hold the system together.
So my question to the DVSA is simple:
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STOP MOVING THE PIECES AROUND THE BOARD AND ACTUALLY FIX THE SHORTAGE OF TESTS?
Because September has arrived…
And the problem hasn’t gone away.
Learners are waiting.
Instructors are frustrated.
Test centres are full.
And valuable test appointments are potentially being wasted because of the very rules designed to improve the system.
This isn’t fixing the problem.
It’s moving the problem around.
👉 Learners deserve better.
👉 Instructors deserve better.
👉 And the whole testing system deserves better.
Feel free to share the hell out of this.
The more people who understand what’s actually happening behind the scenes, the better.
Signing off now.
Drive with Clive.
