Working from home fuels surge in demand for driving tests

The DVSA says the backlog was caused by the knock-on effect of all driving tests being cancelled during the pandemic

Credit: E+

Working from home is fuelling demand for already scarce driving tests,a motoring school boss has said.

Seb Goldin,chief executive of Red Driver Training,said that changes in working and commuting patterns after the Covid-19 pandemic had led to a surge in demand for driving tests.

His comments come amid growing concern about shortages of driving tests,with waiting times for practical tests now averaging more than 15 weeks and many centres fully booked for six months.

“There’s a change in lifestyle in this country,” Mr Goldin told the BBC’s You and Yours programme.

“And a lot of people - if they’re hybrid working or working from home - [that] means they’re not commuting.

“But that is actually fuelling the demand to learn to drive because people are staying,probably,more in their local communities,which means that they’re not just sitting in an office all day long.

“They’re doing other things,which involves driving,and as well as that - there’s a huge demand for driving jobs as well.”

In many of the UK’s 380 driving test centres,waiting times are at 24 weeks or six months - and new tests are only released six months in advance.

Shadow market

They then operate a shadow market where desperate learners can buy a slot of their choosing,typically for a higher price than offered by the agency.

Loveday Ryder,the chief executive of the DVSA,said: “We understand why people will resort to using services that offer to find cancellations. But we also know that some of these services might collect personal data that learners might not expect or be comfortable with.”

Shortages of driving tests have prompted questions in Parliament,while the DVSA says that the backlog was caused by the knock-on effect of all driving tests being cancelled during the pandemic.

Last year,Edmund King,the president of the AA,revealed that his children had been forced to give up learning to drive because they could not obtain a practical test slot.

“It is really disappointing seeing my own children caught up in the system and giving up on learning to drive,but it is much worse for teenagers in care,where driving can help them to get a job and give them the freedom they deserve,” Mr King said.