Learner drivers waiting almost half a year for practical driving test in Dorset
Driving test wait times in Dorset are “worse than they were coming out of the pandemic.”
Learner drivers in Dorset could be waiting until January next year for a practical driving test.
Official data gathered by the DVSA found 243 test centres are experiencing delays with Dorchester, in particular, seeing a surge in bookings as it has ‘the highest pass rate in the country’ according to reports.
Dorchester recorded an average pass rate of 67.3%, passing 715 learner drivers out of 1,062 tests taken between April 2020 and June 2021.
Tim Shelton from the Shelton School of Driving told us there’s a ‘massive problem’ with test tourism: “If you live in London and your test waiting time is 28 weeks and you can have a look on the system and find that in Poole or Dorchester its 17 weeks, then people are booking tests there instead.”
The situation worsened recently as a result of examiners going on strike in December, January, March, April and June causing thousands of tests cancelled.
Invigilators were striking with issues regarding pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms.
We’ve been speaking to driving instructors across the county who say they’re under more pressure than ever ‘to get pupils ready’ as learners are booking tests before they’ve even had a lesson.
Mr Shelton explained: “The DVSA standard is 46 hours of tuition, so within four months of starting you should be taking a test but obviously with the long waiting periods, you can’t say ‘we’ve got a test booked in six months, but we should keep having a lesson every week,’ that's not realistic.”
The prolonged wait times are also being felt by students as they’re reportedly paying double what learners usually pay due to the 22-week delay.
“From start to finish it would normally cost between £900 to £1200 but with these delays you’re potentially doubling that if you’re going to keep having lessons every week,” Mr Shelton.