The desperate learner drivers waiting SIX MONTHS for a driving test

Learner drivers in many parts of Britain are being forced to wait six months for an exam date, Money Mail can reveal.

The delay means that students who book a driving test today at one of 107 locations – a third of all test centers – including Cheltenham, Guildford and Taunton, are unlikely to get a driving license before October.

Covid-19 lockdowns led to a national shortage of test places as more than 450,000 exams were canceled in the 12 months to March 2021.

But three years on, the overall average wait time for a test is still 17 weeks – down from a peak of almost 21 weeks in August – as the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has failed to clear the backlog.

Nearly 80 percent of testing centers are experiencing delays of more than six weeks, the average wait time before the pandemic, according to figures obtained by Money Mail through a Freedom of Information request.

The bottleneck means driving instructors are now telling students to book a test before they have had their first lesson.

Naughton Dunn, a driving instructor in Ludlow, Shropshire, says: ‘I’ve said to students, “Let’s book your practical test” before they’ve even sat behind the wheel of a car.’

Some are so desperate for a spot that they are willing to travel hundreds of miles to a testing center, he says.

‘The situation is an absolute nightmare. I have had people from Edinburgh and three from the London area contact me to help them prepare for a test in Ludlow.

‘I’ve had to switch off my phone because I’ve been getting messages all night from learner drivers wanting to book lessons.’

Mark Steeples, a driving instructor in Skipton, North Yorkshire, says students in his area are already trying to book driving tests for September.

“Some of my students are about to go to college and want to get their tests done before they go,” he says. ‘Right now there is a huge demand and there is not enough supply.’

Among those caught behind is Faustina Anyanwu, 46, who has been trying to book a driving test near her home in Greenwich, London, for more than a year.

The postponement means that the married mother of four will also have to retake her driving theory test, as it has been more than two years since she took the test and her certificate has expired.

“I log on to the DVSA website every Monday at 6am to try and get a spot as that’s when the driving tests are released,” says Faustina.

She estimates she has spent £3,000 on driving lessons but is no closer to hitting the road.

‘The whole situation is very frustrating. I have not been able to get a new job because you need a driver’s license for many positions,” says Faustina, co-founder of the international women’s forum Divas Of Color.

‘I was even offered one role with a car allowance, but I had to turn it down.’

Students also sign up for cancellation apps and websites, including Testi and driving test cancellations.

These services use automated software to scan the DVSA website looking for available driving tests.

When they find available slots, app users are notified and pay a fee of around £15 for the service – and sometimes an additional fee for finding a test.

Using a cancellation app was the only way baker and author Reshmi Bennett, 40, could secure a test date.

“Last September we moved from London to Farnham in Surrey because we needed more space and I suddenly had to drive,” says Reshmi.

‘I couldn’t go to schools to talk about my books, take my son to birthday parties or meet new people. I was also spending around £133 a week traveling to my bakery in London and that was adding up. It was a very stressful time.”

Desperate, she downloaded an app, which then asked her to join a WhatsApp messaging group where test dates were posted every morning.

When she selected a date, the group manager sent her a message with his bank details and asked her to transfer him £100.

“I paid the money thinking it was a scam, but somehow it worked and I ended up getting a test at a center in Farnborough,” she says. Reshmi estimates she has spent around £2,250 learning to drive.

Geraldine Joaquim, 54, says trying to arrange a driving test for her daughter Georgina, 17, is ‘like a full-time job’.

Geraldine, a clinical hypnotherapist, used the Testi app to secure a spot for Georgina near their home in Petworth, West Sussex.

The app costs £12.99 and provides notifications to users when tests become available.

Georgina has been learning to drive since March, but was only able to book a test for July via the DVSA website at a center near Portsmouth – more than 30 miles away.

‘We live in a very rural area with no public transport, so everything here is done by car. Georgina would like to have the test done so that she can have more freedom,” says Geraldine.

‘My phone has been ringing all day long to let me know that there is a spot available. This morning I was doing yoga and had to stop because I got a notification that a test was available.

“If you don’t jump on it, someone will get it in five minutes.”

In an effort to tackle the bottleneck, the DVSA says it has recruited 550 new driving test examiners.

It has also offered to pay its current workforce double for any overtime, and reinstate staff who are trained examiners but currently work in administrative roles.

This allowed the agency to conduct another 145,000 tests between October and March, just short of its 150,000 target, as it tries to resolve the impasse.

In a normal year, more than 1.5 million tests would be administered.

A DVSA spokesperson said: ‘We will continue to work tirelessly to reduce waiting times even further and we encourage students not to book their driving test until they feel they are ready to pass.’

a.cooke@dailymail.co.uk