Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how long the average wait for a driving test from booking was in each of the last five years.

Data held by the DVSA, which could appear to suggest the average time between booking a test and taking a test, would be misleading. This is because the booking system records the last date the candidate made the latest booking, and does not take into account the date of the original booking, or any subsequent bookings made by rescheduling the test slot.

For example:

• A candidate books a test 4 weeks ago and is due to take their test in a further two weeks’ time. The system would show a wait time of 6 weeks.
• The same candidate goes online today, and finds a cancellation test slot for one week’s time. They amend their original booking and change the test date to one week’s time. The system would suggest the candidate has waited 1 week for their test, when in reality they have been waiting 5 weeks.

We do not know how many people logged on at 6am for the most recent Monday and booked a test.