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Written question asked by Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 2 April 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 April 2025. It was answered by Lilian Greenwood (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 April 2025 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Driving Tests: Wiltshire

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of driving test waits in Wiltshire; and what steps she is taking to help reduce the backlog.

Answer

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

The table below shows the number of car practical driving tests booked and available in the 24-week booking window, as of 31 March 2025, for the driving test centres (DTCs) serving customers in Wiltshire:

DTC

Car practical driving tests booked

Car practical driving test available

Chippenham

2,721

138

Salisbury

1,795

84

Swindon

3,233

144

On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.

DVSA continues to recruit DEs DTCs serving customers in Wiltshire and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA has four potential new DEs booked on training programmes.

On 31 March 2025, DVSA launched its latest DE recruitment campaign and has two vacancies for the area as part of this.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.

On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.

On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 25 warnings, 4 suspensions, and closed 90 business accounts.

DVSA has deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
43747
Session
2024-26
Related items
Car practical driving test waiting times
Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Written statements
House of Commons
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Driving tests Waiting lists Wiltshire
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk