Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to stop automated systems from booking driving test slots for financial gain.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards. To increase the number of available test slots, it is conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.

Driving examiners from areas with lower waiting times continue to travel and test in those centres with longer waiting times. This is in addition to DVSA recruiting additional examiners across the country into areas where waiting times are highest.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests. Such apps or bots are not approved by DVSA. They make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test. DVSA will continue to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system, which are having a positive impact.

In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, DVSA has issued 283 warnings, 746 suspensions, and closed 689 businesses for misuse of its booking service.

To ensure its booking system is used correctly, DVSA has also:

• stopped accepting new automatic online registrations to use its tests booking service – any new applications must be made by email, where they will be thoroughly checked by DVSA.
• stopped accepting any new registrations from companies who do not directly employ a driving instructor.
• removed registrations not linked to driving instructors.
• reduced the number of times a driving test appointment can be changed from 10 to the pre-pandemic limit of 6.

Following these changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.