The government says up to 6,500 extra driving tests will be offered next year – thanks to the presence of military driving examiners.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has also set out new measures to prevent third-party “re-selling” of driving test appointments. They use online bots to grab tests as they become available.
Speaking to the Transport Select Committee, the Minister said: “We are doing more tests. We have also recruited more new driving examiners – a total of 316. But as I told this committee earlier, we also need to retain more of our driving examiners, so that is a net increase of over 40 driving examiners.
We should see more progress there. We are giving driving examiners a super payment of £5,000 next year, split between a payment in March and a payment in September.
“Anecdotally, we’re hearing that this is pushing some driving examiners into early retirement or encouraging them to delay their retirement.
“But I have to be honest with all the committee members that I cannot sit here today and tell you that I will also meet the summer 2026 deadline. The demand is still very high and the approaches that the DVSA has taken so far have not been sufficient to meet this level of demand.”
Ms Alexander said: “We have been involved with the Ministry of Defense School of Transport and they are giving us some of their driving examiners to complete.
It’s good for them to use some of these MoD resources – because their driving examiners need to maintain their skills – but it also gives us extra capacity.
36 Defense Driving Examiners (DDEs), made up of civilian DoD personnel, will help conduct driving tests one day a week for 12 months.
Armed Forces Secretary Al Kearns said: “Our military driving tests bring expertise and professionalism from testing service personnel to prepare them for some of the most demanding conditions imaginable.
“By supporting civilian testing, they are helping to get more students on the road, keep Britain moving and deliver to the public.”
The minister also announced measures to deal with the problem of companies “scratching” driving test appointments and reselling them at a high price.
“We are introducing a legal change which means that only the driver himself can book a test. This is to prevent people being taken advantage of by bots operating online.”
In addition, the Transport Secretary said: “We will limit the number of times a driver can move or change a test and also limit the area they can move to after booking a test”.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “It’s good to see steps being taken to prevent those exams being advertised to desperate students – candidates stuck in the queue should at least have the confidence that they aren’t being ripped off by those looking to make a quick buck.
“What’s really holding back recruitment and dealing with queues is a return to more reasonable pre-Covid waiting times for tests, which we hope the arrival of a team of military inspectors alongside the new DVSA force will help deliver.”
Ms Alexander revealed that DVSA chief executive Lovedy Ryder is leaving her role. “We will also be looking at the new leadership to really get to grips with driving test wait times because that will be a top priority for the organization,” he said.
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