The driving test system as we all know has opened to the general public on a very restricted basis. The system opens on Monday of each week at 8am and test applicants are held in a queue and given a queue number then informed when they can access the booking system and select a time and date that is suitable.
Sounds simple, however, the system has experienced a high demand for test dates but has very low availability of test slots. Once all the available test dates were booked the system was closed down much to the frustration of hundreds if not thousands of test ready students.This is not an unexpected event as lock down created a large back log, test centres were closed for a long period and slow to reopen for various reasons, priority was given to key workers throughout the lock down and continued to have priority when the system opened, examiners initially were reduced to conducting 5 tests per day instead of the usual 7 tests per day.
There are other factors that have impacted on the booking system and hopefully these will be addressed in the very near future. Hope is on the horizon that some form of normality may return on the 14th September when the booking system will reopen with test dates available up to the end of January 2021 (18 weeks ahead instead of the low 6 weeks ahead) with 375,000 test slots available across to he UK and examiners conducting 6 tests per day.
The DVSA has stated that “Almost everyone will be able to book a test”. Let’s hope they are correct and test candidates are not left frustrated yet again. For all students looking to book a driving test the system opens at 8am Monday 14th September, happy hunting to you all.
Any test candidates that remain on hold will have access to the system via a direct link to book a test slot prior to the system opening up to the general public. DVSA will contact on hold candidates via email.
