Driving Tests: Secondary Market

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Young of Cookham]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they plan to ban the secondary market in driving tests.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) (Lab)]

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has announced measures to review the driving test booking system. It launched a call for evidence on 18 December seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes with potential future legislative changes. On 6 January, the same organisation also introduced tougher terms and conditions for driving instructors booking and managing car driving tests for their pupils.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

I am grateful for that Answer, but I think the answer to my Question is no—although it was very skilfully camouflaged. This is a racket. Middlemen are hoovering up slots on the DVSA website and then charging learner drivers a premium to access them. I googled this morning “Book your driving test earlier”. I got eight hits on the first page, with lots of inducements: “You can receive a test a month earlier than you would usually find on the DVSA website” and “Get your driving licence faster with early test bookings”. Another one said, “Book a driving test quicker with our booking system”. Trustpilot reveals that some of those are scams, with people paying £90 and not getting a test. Last month, the previous Secretary of State said:

“we will review and improve the rules around booking tests, including”,

as the Minister has just said,

measures to ban the resale of driving test appointments”.—[Official Report, Commons, 18/12/24; col. 52WS.]

Why do the Government not just get on with it and ban this racket?