Driving test waiting list

[Maz]

Stepson passed his driving theory test, which is needed before you can book the practical driving test. Amazingly, all the test centres within 100 miles all just say "no test dates"! Not even "nothing for 6 months" or "nothing before 2026" - just "no test dates!" It's almost a joke! I did a bit of googling and apparently Monday after 6am is the time to look! When some new dates are released. But some people are booking tests 100's of miles from where they live! Just to get one.

 

[Lovelyness]

Yes, I frequently see posts about trying to get a driving test on my local Facebook page. Seems crazy

 

[Socks' Mum]

Holiday to the Isle of Mann in winter?

 

[Maz]

Holiday to the Isle of Mann in winter?

You need to be resident there apparently!

 

[Coco61]

I have also read about this. They are trying to stop people booking a driving test and then re selling the slot online for massive sums of money. That seems so unfair on youngsters like your stepson Maz, but also it is affecting people who need to pass the test for a job offer they have.

 

[Maz]

The .gov booking site definitely needs an overhaul! Complete lack of information.

 

[Maz]

Very early start here today to book a driving test for our teenager. I read a tip online that the time to book is 6am on a Monday morning, when new slots are released each week. Apparently the idea is just book one that's available, even if it's nowhere near you - because once you have one booked there are apps that notify you of cancellations closer to home etc.

So I was up at 5.45am and on the website. The site says it's closed until 6am so I logged in at 5.59am - site still said it was closed, so I refreshed the page for a minute until it opened - got straight in on the dot of 6am and this is what I was presented with ................I was number 15,500 and something in the queue!!!! So 15,499 people simultaneously logged into the site on the dot of 6am! But how did 15,499 people get there before me when I logged in the second the site opened?!!! After 10 minutes or so it had gone down to just under 13,000.




So I spent 53 minutes staring at the screen and watching the little person at the top of the window (green bar on photo) gradually walking across (why walking and not driving ha ha?). And tapping on the screen occasionally in case it timed out on me.

Finally I was there - well not quite ............



Another wait and then ta da - I was in. You then only have 10 minutes - it took me about 3 minutes to complete the little captcha puzzle correctly!

And you have to fill in name, address, numbers and all sorts before you actually get to the page with slots.

After putting in our post code it came up with the 5 nearest test centres - all of which said "no dates available"

You can keep asking for more centres to be shown and a lot further down the list I found about three test centres that said some dates available. They were all 60 to 70 miles away and two were in very inaccessible places to get to. So I picked the one that was most accessible to get to. Only two dates right at the end of December .......... when the sales are on!

But - phew - we have a test a booked! That is the key - as then you can change it or get a cancellation. So waiting a few months isn't too bad - more practice for the teenager - but hopefully we will find a cancellation for a closer test centre in an area he's familiar with.

I believe there's an app to find cancellations - not a .gov one, but some other company's app I think - and I don't think it's free either. Just checked - it's £11.99 for the app. They must be making an absolute fortune - what is 15,500 x £11.99? ...................£185,845 just for today - assuming everyone else had to book something in the wrong location - a crazy situation of people basically swapping driving test locations!

 

[Lovelyness]

That's crazy how has getting a driving test become so unworkable??!!??

 

[Maz]

It's a national scandal. I think there was a big backlog during the pandemic, with a couple of year groups of teenagers missing out, but you think they'd have sorted it out by now (or at least have a better booking system).

 

[Coco61]

Thank goodness you got something at least Maz. After all that effort. Fingers crossed that you are able to swop for one closer to home. Hope teenager brings you flowers or something

I have read that there is a huge shortage of examiners and that is a big contribution to the back log problem.

 

[Maz]

An update about the apps. I googled to see which was supposed to be the best one - which was the £11.99 one. A cancellation actually came up this morning, which I tapped on and it took me to the .gov page to change the test date/location, but by the time I had completed the login, the slot was gone! I googled again and it said that can happen with this app - try this other app that books it for you when you tap on the cancellation. So I got the second app as well which cost £15.99. Now that one has done nothing all day. The first one does come up with the odd cancellation (but I don't want to accept anything too soon as he isn't ready yet!). Nothing for the preferred location as yet though.

I can see this ties you to immediately responding to your phone beeps until it's sorted!

 

[Lovelyness]

Cos people have nothing better to do all day, right!!??!?!!

 

[Maz]

Aargh! I was woken up this morning by a ping - and the app showed a list of driving test appointments at our nearest test centre. So immediately clicked on one to login to the site. Last night I read a tip online to save the driver number and reference number as a shortcut on your phone so you just tap one letter and the whole thing gets pasted! That saves time logging in - as by the time you've logged in all the appointments are gone again. I still have to squint to do the picture capture on my phone so that takes a minute or so. Got logged in and a few dates showing in October and December - every one I tapped on to choose didn't complete - already gone.

So that was slightly stressy. Lots of appointment dates at our chosen test centre and all gone!

Then another ping on my phone with another date. I decided to login on computer as I really can't see the website properly on my phone - it's not optimised for mobile and everything a bit small! Another ping on my phone and one more date came up at our chosen test centre, so I tapped on the date in a panic and this time it went through rather than fail as already gone. But - it is too soon! It's only a month away!

At first I thought - that's ok - at least it's an appointment at the right test centre and I can change it if another one comes up. Then realised that it will be harder to change as it's only a month away! You have to change within 10 days of the date or pay another fee.

And it is a bit soon - he's not quite ready. Not many driving lessons over the summer due to everyone having holidays so he only has one more driving lesson before then. Well I suppose if he passes it saves on the cost of driving lessons! But - really needs more practice and a later date ..........

Oh dear. Honestly this is an awful system!

I'm now back to sitting here desperately hoping more test dates come up for our chosen centre for later this year, having to log in every time (which is a bit of a nightmare). Only to find they are gone again!

Maybe there are a few new ones each day. So I might try just logging in on computer early tomorrow morning and sitting there refreshing the page and see if something else comes up!

 

[Maz]

Oh phew. While I was logged in my phone pinged again and a few more dates came up. But I still had to login again to choose the test centre again! But managed to get one in December - phew. So I don't have to keep checking every day now ............... Not an ideal date of course - a few days before Christmas. But a good time of day at least!

Have now had two changes. You're allowed 6 before you have to pay a new fee ............... But I think that one will have to do - not going through this every day!

 

[Socks' Mum]

It will be a nice Xmas pressie if he gets through. You've got the system set up nicely though. I don't know what people who aren't tech savvy so. Well done

 

[Maz]

Thanks Socks Mum but another update! I kept refreshing the page until new dates came up and finally found and the odd date kept appearing, and I finally found an ideal date and time in October, clicked to change to it and before it completed, the page seemed to crash. And I then got a message that I am blocked from the site! It thinks I'm a bot! Oh well - at least we have one in December.

 

[Socks' Mum]

The pressure to pass must be quite high

 

[Lovelyness]

At least he has plenty of time to practice and it will be a nice Christmas gift too. He'd better pass after all this tho!

 

[Maz]

Yes I think probably best to wait till December and get more practice. Instructor says it’s a good time of day and just before Christmas so roads should be quiet. And he’s available that day. So yes it could be a nice Christmas present - but if he doesn’t pass then hopefully Christmas will distract him! Average uk pass rate is under 50% apparently.

 

[Lovelyness]

Hopefully he'll be in the 50% who pass!