Clampdown on loophole forcing up the price of driving tests after some learners had to pay £200
Suppression of loophole driving up the price of driving tests after some learners were charged £200 – three times the normal price
- Tests were banned during the pandemic, leading to a backlog of nearly 500,000
Driving test bosses are cracking down on companies that exploit loopholes in the booking system to take advantage of the huge demand for scarce appointments.
Some learners have been forced to pay as much as £200 – three times the normal price – as driving schools buy test slots en masse, while other companies use computer bots to pick them up as soon as they are made public.
Driving tests were banned during the pandemic, leading to a backlog of nearly 500,000.
As a result, students trying to book one face have to wait at least three months, with some areas booked up to ten months.
This has led many desperate to get out and about paying way above the usual cost of £62 for weekday tests during the day and £75 for evenings and weekends.
Some pupils have been forced to pay as much as £200 – three times the normal price
A major loophole is in part of the instructor booking system, which allows driving schools to reserve dozens of seats at once.
But because there was no control over who signed up for the service, third parties saw an opportunity to make money.
After signing up as an instructor and massively booking test slots across the country, they used websites and apps to resell them at inflated prices.
Labor MP Afzal Khan, who was campaigning for government action following complaints about the system from his Manchester voters, wrote to ministers demanding to know what action was being taken.
In response, Transport Minister Richard Holden revealed that the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has stopped allowing new companies to block testing.
Driving tests were banned during the pandemic, leading to a backlog of nearly 500,000
All requests to do so, along with existing registrations, will now be ‘thoroughly checked’ and companies that do not employ driving instructors will be blocked.
The DVSA is also cracking down on bots that can scoop up test cancellations as they become available, though it’s still battling computer experts who devise ways to circumvent the measures taken.
Loveday Ryder, CEO of DVSA, said last night: ‘We will continue to work tirelessly to crack down on companies that exploit student drivers.’