UPDATED: 26th June.
After stating driving lessons can resume on Saturday 4th July, the DVSA has just confirmed car driving tests will restart from Wednesday 22 July.
Original content below.
As UK lockdown measures continue to ease many pupils are asking when will driving tests start again after COVID-19. Today, (15th June) Government agency DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) has provided an update to all Driving Instructors.
The DVSA suspended all driving tests for up to three months from 20 March. It said the official number of cancelled tests was not yet available but government statistics show about 400,000 people take their practical car tests in Great Britain each quarter.
Booking a Driving Test
The DVSA has stated:
When we suspended driving tests, we rescheduled all your pupils’ driving tests to a named date and time.
But we now have 3 issues to think about:
– rescheduled dates might not be suitable for you and your pupils, as situations may have changed
– not all driving examiners will be available
– social distancing measures might limit the number of tests we can carry out
The fairest way we can do this is to put all the rescheduled tests ‘on hold’. This means the test will no longer go ahead on the originally rescheduled date.
We will then ask people in the backlog to go online and choose their preferred date and time. We’ll invite them to do this in batches, based on when their test should have originally taken place.
We will contact you before we start this process, so you can make your pupils aware of what’s happening. We will also contact them directly with more information.
We are also planning how we can continue to help critical workers to get a test as a priority throughout this process.
What about Driving Test Centres?
The DVSA announced:
Some of our driving test centres have now been closed for 12 weeks. We need to make sure they’re thoroughly checked before we can reopen them. We’re busy working with them to get our test centre network safe and ready.
What differences will there be across England, Scotland and Wales?
The DVSA commented:
As you will be aware, public health is the responsibility of the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales. This means that there are currently different lockdown rules in place for England, Scotland and Wales.
We are talking to the devolved administrations about how this might affect us restarting our services in Scotland and Wales.
I’m learning to drive with Bill Plant Driving School, who should I contact?
We, as a National Driving School, are working closely with all of our Driving Instructors to ensure that safety is the top priority for all involved. We understand that there will be many changes that need to be made to make driving lessons and tests safe for the Pupil, Driving Instructor and the Examiner, and this is likely to vary across England, Scotland and Wales.
If you are currently learning to drive with a Bill Plant Driving School Instructor please liaise directly with them on matters regarding your driving lessons and/or driving test.
I’d like to start lessons with Bill Plant Driving School post-COVID
For new pupils, please check out our Driving Lesson Queue Jump initiative plus key workers should visit this page.
To read the full announcement from the DVSA (aimed at Driving Instructors) please visit this page.
