New law to clamp down on driving test bots

Solely learner drivers will be capable of ebook driving checks in plans aimed toward decreasing lengthy ready lists and stopping slots being offered at inflated costs.The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated limiting third events from reselling slots would cease folks being “exploited” by on-line bots.However she admitted to MPs on the Transport committee that ready instances for driving checks wouldn’t be introduced all the way down to seven weeks by summer season 2026, the newest deadline she set.The common ready time was 21.8 weeks on the finish of June.In addition to altering who can ebook checks, examiners from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) can be introduced into the Driver and Automobile Requirements Company (DVSA) to attempt to cut back the backlog.The Division for Transport stated 36 MoD driving examiners can be introduced in to conduct checks in England in the future every week for a yr, at an estimated value of £100,000.These examiners are civil servants, not navy personnel.The DVSA has recruited 316 new examiners, however Alexander stated that has resulted in a internet achieve of solely 40 as others have left.Driving examiners can be provided a “retention fee” of £5,000 from subsequent yr to attempt to preserve them within the function.She additionally stated a restrict can be positioned on the variety of instances a driver can transfer or swap a take a look at, and the realm they’ll transfer a take a look at to as soon as they’ve booked it.In April, BBC Confirm discovered that the common ready time throughout the 319 driving take a look at centres in Nice Britain was 22 weeks, with three-quarters of centres hitting the utmost common wait time of 24 weeks.Each week, the Driver and Automobile Requirements Company (DVSA) makes extra checks accessible however many are quickly booked up by bots – automated software program that may act a lot sooner than people.Corporations then resell the take a look at slots to determined candidates at inflated costs.Final month, 38 MPs signed a letter calling on the federal government to take “the strongest potential motion” on the difficulty of re-selling checks.The driving take a look at prices £62 for a weekday slot or £75 for evenings and weekends.The letter stated some third-party sellers are charging as much as £500.Learner drivers have stated they’ve needed to stand up at 05:30 GMT or wait in a digital queue for hours to ebook a take a look at immediately.By the top of final month, there have been 642,000 learner drivers with a take a look at booked.The DVSA has stated the backlog is a results of elevated demand and folks reserving checks a lot sooner than earlier than.Some 182,000 checks passed off final month, a rise of 9% from October 2024.Emma Bush, managing director of AA Driving Faculty, stated learner drivers throughout the nation nonetheless confronted “extreme and restrictive ready instances” when reserving checks.”Extra assist from navy driving examiners ought to assist alleviate among the stress on the system,” Ms Bush stated. “The tightening of the reserving system ought to cut back the wiggle-room that’s permitting unscrupulous take a look at resellers to revenue from learners’ distress.”Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Basis, stated: “It’s good to see steps being put in place to place a cease to these touting checks to annoyed learners.”Candidates caught within the queue ought to no less than be reassured that they are not being elbowed apart by these merely searching for to make a fast buck.”