The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has changed the rules for booking car driving tests, ending a practice that allowed third parties to secure appointments on behalf of learners. According to the GOV.UK announcement, the stated aim is to return control of bookings to individual candidates and curb a secondary market in test slots. The agency said it is now against the law for third parties, including unofficial booking businesses, cancellation-finder services and driving instructors, to make a booking for someone else. DVSA has also stated that third parties must not change, swap or cancel a learner's test, with that activity treated as a breach of the booking service terms and conditions.
The policy is framed by ministers as a response to long waiting times and resale activity. Roads minister Simon Lightwood said the government inherited a large backlog and a system in which some learners were paying inflated prices to intermediaries that secured appointments and sold access at a premium. DVSA chief executive Beverley Warmington said the measures are intended to stop exploitation of learners and reduce the use of bots and third-party booking activity. In policy terms, the change is designed to move appointments away from speculative or profit-driven behaviour and towards candidates who are ready to sit the test.
The latest rules sit within a broader tightening of the booking system. DVSA had already reduced the number of times a test appointment can be changed from six to two, a restriction that took effect on 31 March 2026. A further control is due on 9 June 2026, when learners will be able to move a test only to one of their three nearest driving test centres. According to the agency's guidance, that June restriction is intended to deter bookings at centres where a learner does not plan to take the test. The department's concern is that holding a slot in one area in order to trade, swap or later relocate it adds pressure to an already constrained system.
The official pricing structure remains unchanged. DVSA said learners should pay only the official booking fee: £62 for a weekday car test, or £75 for an evening, weekend or bank holiday appointment. That point is central to the reform, because the agency is trying to remove the financial incentive for unofficial operators to reserve and resell appointments. Driving instructors and driving schools still have a role, but it is more clearly defined. They may continue to advise learners on readiness and set their own availability so candidates do not book unsuitable test times, but they are not permitted to act as the booking party.
The enforcement changes are being introduced alongside an increase in testing capacity. DVSA said there were 1,604 full-time equivalent driving examiners in post in April 2026, the highest level of examiner capacity since March 2018. The agency has also doubled training capacity for new examiners so recruits can move into testing work more quickly. Ministers have also pointed to the use of military driving examiners as part of the backlog response. Simon Lightwood said almost 2 million tests were delivered over the past year, including more than 158,000 additional tests since June 2025.
DVSA's provisional statistics show a clear increase in activity. Table DRT121G records 1,998,608 car driving tests taken between April 2025 and March 2026, up 8.6% on the previous year. Over the same period, 1,000,043 candidates passed, an increase of 11.7%. The longer series shows how test volumes have moved in recent years. There were 1,688,955 car tests taken in 2022 to 2023, 1,945,225 in 2023 to 2024, 1,839,817 in 2024 to 2025, and 1,998,608 in 2025 to 2026. Pass numbers followed a similar pattern, rising from 816,775 in 2022 to 2023 to 931,494 in 2023 to 2024, falling to 895,368 in 2024 to 2025, and then reaching 1,000,043 in 2025 to 2026.
For learners, the immediate effect is administrative as much as legal: bookings are intended to sit with the individual candidate, not with a broker or reseller. For instructors, the change narrows the scope of their involvement to tuition, readiness and timetable management rather than transactional control over appointments. For the department, the policy will be judged by operational outcomes, including appointment availability at the official fee and whether reduced third-party activity supports shorter waits. The government's published position is that fairer booking rules, backed by higher examiner capacity, should move more test slots to genuine candidates.