Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the average amount paid in pounds sterling for practical driving test slots that were (a) booked via third-party applications not approved by the DVSA and (b) resold after having been bought by automated bots.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is aware that some companies have been using bots or third-party applications to snap up appointments on its public booking service, as soon as they become available, leaving fewer test appointments for genuine learner drivers to purchase directly from the DVSA.
These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA.
In January this year, the DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, the DVSA has issued 192 warnings, 532 suspensions, and closed 438 businesses for misuse of its booking service.
To ensure its booking system is used correctly, the DVSA has also:
Following these changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because the DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.
As of 13 November 2023, there were 562,296 car practical driving tests booked, and 82,836 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test in October 2023 was 18.8 weeks. The DVSA does not hold the number of driving tests that have been booked by automated bots.
Since April 2021, measures put in place by the DVSA to reduce waiting times for its customers is creating on average over 42,900 extra car test slots each month.
DVSA is examining additional measures to further strengthen the system.