Medway learners struggled to book driving tests

It comes as the DVSA has introduced a seven point plan to reduce the backlog, including recruiting 450 new examiners. Josh McLaughlin reports.

Transcript

00:00We all hate getting stuck at red lights, but more and more people are getting trapped in gridlock

00:05before they're even able to hit the roads. For Gillingham, the current earliest driving

00:09test date on the DVSA website is 22 weeks away. Now, they've changed the rules to the service

00:15driving instructors use to book tests. We've met up with a Gillingham driving instructor

00:19at 17 plus driving school, Nick Salzen, to hear more about the problem.

00:23Well, the backlog was caused pretty much by COVID. There's so many students

00:28turning 17 or had to put their lessons on hold. When we then came out of lockdown,

00:33the DVSA just couldn't cope with the demand. I don't see that any changes they're making

00:38at the moment is really going to make a big difference.

00:41Stats from the end of 2024 show that the average national waiting time for a car driving test

00:46is nearly at 21 weeks, according to the Department for Transport. That's nearly

00:5050 percent higher than four years ago and double that of nine.

00:54First and foremost, they've got to find people that want to be driving instructors,

00:58examiners. Then they've got to train them, and that's all going to take time.

01:02You know, you're not going to magic those people out of thin air and you're not going to get them

01:05trained in a couple of months. It's the system that needs really sorting out. They're making

01:11good steps by the changes that they've announced, but I think they could go further.

01:16The DVSA hope new changes will prevent instructors booking tests for students

01:20they aren't teaching and placeholder driving test dates they have no plan on using.

01:25Census data shows over half of workers in Medway use a car to commute to work,

01:30and with one in six jobs requiring a car, the issues waiting times are presenting

01:35have lasting impacts. Anya Desai is a student in Medway and failed her test at the Gillingham

01:40Test Centre before booking a test elsewhere. I couldn't get one in Gillingham. I was like,

01:45I want to do it now, so I'm going to try and find some other place that was close by. So I did

01:49another area, which was not a good idea for me because I don't know that area. So I studied it

01:56like the night before on Google Maps, trying to figure it out. But then when I did it in person,

02:01I still wasn't confident enough because I didn't know that area. So I failed that one as well.

02:05In a statement given to KMTV, the DVSA's chief executive, Love Day Rider, says they hope their

02:11seven-point plan to reduce driving test waiting times will make the driving test booking system

02:16fairer for learners and better protect them from exploitation. With these being long-term changes

02:22to keep the traffic flowing, for the meantime, many learners remain stuck at a standstill.

02:28Josh McLaughlin for KMTV in Medway.