A BBC investigation in December uncovered a murky trade: driving instructors being offered kickbacks of up to £250 a month to hand over their official test-booking login details to touts. Those touts then used the accounts to bulk-buy slots, reselling them to desperate learners on WhatsApp and Facebook for as much as £500 – a far cry from the standard £62 weekday fee or £75 for evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Now the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is tightening the rules. From 12 May, only learner drivers themselves can book, change or swap their own test – a ban on instructors doing it for them. Tests already booked by instructors before that date are unaffected. The change is intended to give learners control and prevent slots from being hoarded by bots and resale firms, which had helped push waiting lists to up to six months.
“Driving test changes ban instructors from booking, after touts resold slots for up to £500.”
Further restrictions will roll out on 9 June: if a learner wants to move their test, they can now only move it to the three test centres closest to where their test is originally booked. And since 31 March, the number of changes allowed to a booking has been slashed from six to two. Changing the date, time, test centre or swapping with another learner all count as a change – though changing more than one thing at once (say, date and centre) counts as only one. If the DVSA itself changes the test, that doesn't count.
Any learner who needs more than two changes must cancel their test and book a new one. They can still get a refund if they cancel at least 10 working days before the test date. The message from officials is blunt: only book at a test centre you intend to use, and choose a realistic date for when you'll be ready.
To help a friend or relative book, learners must have that person present while they help, and all confirmation emails must be sent to the learner's own email or phone number. If they don't have email, you can help them set up an account.
The changes are designed to squeeze the touts out of the system, but questions remain over whether they will be enough to cut waiting lists that, in some parts of the country, still stretch half a year.