Driving Tests: Somerset
(asked on 12th May 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time was for (i) theory and (ii) practical driving tests in Somerset in the last five years.
The table below shows the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time for car practical driving tests, at driving test centres (DTCs) in Wiltshire, for the last ten financial years.
Driving test wait times (weeks) Wiltshire | ||||||||||
Financial Year | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Average | 9.9 | 9.1 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 9.2 | 11.3 | 11.8 | 15.3 | 19.0 | 21.6 |
Longest | 11.1 | 13.5 | 9.8 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 16.8 | 15.6 | 19.4 | 23.6 | 24.0 |
The table below shows the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time for car practical driving tests, at DTCs in Somerset, for the last five financial years.
Driving test wait times (weeks) Somerset | |||||
Financial Year | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Average | 10.8 | 13.9 | 16.5 | 19.1 | 21.8 |
Longest | 18.0 | 15.6 | 21.9 | 24.0 | 24.0 |
The table below shows the average wait time for theory tests in Somerset for the financial years 2021/22 to 2024/25.*
Financial year | Average wait time |
2021/22 (from Sept 2021) | 34.6 days |
2022/23 | 24.6 days |
2023/24 | 20.6 days |
2024/25 | 23.2 days |
The overall average for the total time period available (Sept 2021 to today) for theory tests is 24.1 days.
*Please note, The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) only hold data from when its new theory test booking service was implemented in September 2021. Theory test data availability is not measured in the same way as practical tests. DVSA’s relevant KPI for theory tests is the difference between the first confirmed booking date and the first confirmed test date, excluding bank holidays.