Stories

Wed, 17 Jun 2026

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 Driving test wait time target will not be met until autumn next year

The Transport Secretary had been aiming to reduce the backlog to seven weeks by this autumn.

* Average waiting time to book a driving test has increased to nearly 22 weeks, up from five weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic.
* The government initially set a target of reducing average wait times to seven weeks by the end of 2025, but pushed this back to summer 2026 in November.
* Despite efforts to tackle the issue, including changes aimed at preventing test slots being booked up and resold at inflated prices, demand for tests remains high.
* The Transport Secretary acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done to address the backlog and reduce wait times.