New DVSA rules banning third parties from booking and managing practical driving tests came into force today (12 May 2026), but serious questions are already being raised over whether the changes will actually stop learner drivers being exploited.
The reforms, introduced by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), mean that only the learner driver taking the test can now legally book, change, swap or cancel a car driving test. The changes are part of the agency’s ongoing crackdown on bots, unofficial booking services and test reselling activity, which ministers claim has distorted availability and driven up costs for learners.
However, despite the DVSA branding the move as the “end of the road for unofficial driving test booking services”, critics within the driver training industry say the new system may already be creating exactly the kind of third-party market the agency claims it wants to eliminate.
New rules aim to stop profiteering
Under the new system, driving instructors and driving schools can no longer directly manage practical test bookings for pupils. Learners are now expected to control the process themselves, including changes, cancellations and swaps.
The DVSA says the reforms are designed to make the booking system fairer and stop tests being resold at inflated prices. Learners should now only pay the official DVSA fee, currently £62 on weekdays and £75 on evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Roads Minister Simon Lightwood said the government had inherited “record waiting times and a huge backlog of learners waiting for tests”, while DVSA Chief Executive Beverley Warmington said the measures would “help bring a halt to a system where the use of bots and third parties increases the amount some learners pay for a test and blocks test availability for many others.”
The changes introduced today follow further restrictions brought in on 31 March 2026, which reduced the number of times a booking can be changed from six to two. From 9 June 2026, learners will also only be able to move a test to one of the three nearest driving test centres.
“DVSA may already be failing in its stated objective”
The DIA has questioned whether the reforms are actually solving the problem they were introduced to tackle.
Commenting on the changes, DIA CEO Carly Brookfield said: “DVSA have sent a flurry of DVSA Directs and press releases this week entitled ‘End of the Road for third party test booking services’ with no sense of irony that their ludicrous process for engineering a test swap has actually given birth to a new crop of test booking services offering to help you swap your test for a fee.
“So in the first weeks of the changes, changes that the agency wants us all to believe will mitigate the risks of pupils being exploited by third parties in the process of taking a test, we have DVSA arguably failing in that stated objective.”
The comments come amid growing industry discussion about the emergence of new “test swap” services designed specifically around the DVSA’s updated rules and swap process.
Industry frustration grows over test swap process
Particular criticism has focused on the practicalities of the DVSA’s official test swap procedure, which currently requires both learners, alongside a DVSA customer service adviser, to be involved simultaneously in arranging a swap.
Some instructors have described the process as unnecessarily complicated and warned that learners frustrated by the system may become increasingly tempted to turn to paid third-party assistance.
The reforms also remove a long-standing role traditionally carried out by ADIs, many of whom previously managed bookings on behalf of pupils to help secure suitable dates, times and locations around lesson schedules.
While instructors can still advise pupils on readiness and block out unavailable times in the DVSA system, they can no longer directly control bookings.
More tests, but waiting times remain high
The DVSA says the reforms form part of wider action to reduce national waiting times, alongside increased examiner recruitment and the deployment of military driving examiners.
According to provisional DVSA data, 1,998,608 car driving tests took place between April 2025 and March 2026, an 8.6% increase on the previous year. More than one million tests were passed during the same period.
Despite this, waiting times remain stubbornly high across many parts of Great Britain, with some learners still facing waits of several months for a practical test.
Critics argue that while the DVSA continues to focus heavily on booking restrictions and third-party activity, the real issue remains a shortage of test capacity relative to demand.
5 responses
The changes are the worst decision for our industry and the way the media have handled the delivery of the changes yesterday is appauling. Driving instructors throughout Britain have been tarnished beyond repute as they are blamed for the long waiting lists at test centres. How can we hope to run efficient businesses without even being able to view slots that are available? We are now worthless because we have been disabled by DVSA. I only hope that Carly and the Team at DIA can continue to bring pressure to bear on the Department for Transport that will bring about a “U” turn as soon as possible.
This confirms that the DVSA are certainly not fit for purpose. Thank goodness we have the DIA who is at the forefront of trying to make sense out of the mismanaged and woefully misinformed government department that appears to be undermining our business sector.
instructors upset that they cant make more money off learners despite already charging £40 for an hour of driving is hilarious.
Driving instructors , not all but many, have brought this on themselves by bulk booking and selling tests at hundreds of pounds or selling their own login details to black market third part resellers for monthly fees. There have group chats of hundreds of driving instructors selling and swapping tests to each other. Now they try to evade the blame when inevitably the waiting times come back down the next couple of months.
I feel the main problem is that learner drivers are passing the theory test, and then immediately booking the practical test, months before they are ready for the test, in some cases before they have even driven a car. Somehow, learner drivers need to be encouraged to delay booking their practical test until they have reached a reasonable standard of driving. But trying to get a teenager to do the sensible thing?Tricky one that!