Driving Test Delays, Licence Revocation and the New Booking Rules: What Every Learner Driver Needs to Know.

On the 12^th May 2026 the DVSA introduced new rules for booking practical driving tests. Now, only the learner who is taking the driving test can book and manage their tests. Whilst the learner can ask others to support them in this process, such as their instructor, the learner alone must book the test.

The above changes have been implemented to tackle excessive backlogs for driving tests and widespread abuse of the booking system, so that access to tests are fairer.

However, in practice, this is causing further delay and issues for learner drivers wishing to take their test. In particular, those that have had their driving licence revoked under the “New Driver” provisions are waiting months before their licence is re-instated.

Many of those individuals that have had their licence revoked in such circumstances are forced to suffer the consequences of having no licence that they have become accustomed to. This is resulting in job loss, financial difficulty and inability to support vulnerable family members.

Extent of the Delays

As of 18^th June 2026, the DVSA provided new statistics regarding the delay for booking practical driving tests. This showed that there is an average wait of 22 weeks nationwide. This is compared with a 5 week delay in early 2020, prior to the pandemic.

The figure of 22 weeks reflects the number of weeks until at least 10% of weekly test appointments are able to be booked. Therefore, it is possible that learners are able to book tests prior to 22 weeks. However, the availability of those tests are limited – with less than 10% of weekly slots available. These tests are therefore booked up quickly.

The new published data can be found here: https://despatch.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/18/giving-you-a-clearer-picture-of-driving-test-waiting-times/

Cause of the Delays

The backlog can be primarily linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. During lockdowns practical driving tests were suspended for months. The cancellation of existing tests as well as those learners preparing for future tests were put on hold.

Once the restrictions were lifted, there were suddenly hundreds of thousands of learners that had been waiting a number of months, or years, to take their tests. There were then also multiple new generations of 17-year-olds that were wanting to learn how to drive. The DVSA therefore saw an increased demand for practical tests.

The backlog was then exacerbated by retirement of experienced examiners and difficulty with recruitment, leading to an examiner shortage. Amongst all of the above were also examiner strikes in the period of 2022 and 2023, which led to a halt in the DVSA’s ability to clear the backlog.

Abuse of the Booking System

The backlog of driving tests has resulted in third party booking services and automated software securing a large number of the driving tests before genuine learners could. These appointments have then been re-sold for a large fee, well above the official DVSA fee.

The DVSA fee for booking a practical driving test is £62 on weekends and £75 on weekends, evenings and bank holidays. However, a BBC investigation in December 2025 concluded that desperate learner drivers were paying in excess of £200 for their test – placing those that could not afford such fees at a disadvantage (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0k2858jj1o).

In addition to the above, instructors were also booking future tests as a “placeholder”, in anticipation for their learners being ready for their driving test. This was resulting in frequent cancellations and changing of appointments, leading to many wasted appointments.

New Rules

As of the 12^th May 2026, only the learner driver can book and manage their driving test. The learners instructor and/or family cannot book or mange the appointment.

This also follows an earlier change on the 31^st March 2026 to reduce the number of times that a test date could be changed from 6 to 2. This reduced the risk of tests being “held” by instructors for learners only then to be changed when learners were not ready for their test.

The DVSA believe that the new changes are not to make things harder for learners or instructors, but to tackle widespread abuse of the driving test booking system. It will mean that learners are not forced to pay higher costs for taking their tests, thus making access to tests fairer. It will also mean that appointments are not wasted, and that the backlog will therefore slowly clear.

Impact in Practice

Whilst the above changes will undoubtedly help start to clear the backlog, and are certainly understandable in the circumstances, there has been an unintended consequence.

Prior to 12^th May 2026, many instructors were booking “placeholder” tests for the benefit of their genuine learners.

An instructor with experience will know roughly how long it takes to prepare a student for their tests. They were therefore able to actively manage test bookings with this in mind, meaning that they an available appointment each time a learner was ready for their test. They were also able to utilise booked tests to assist learners that failed their test, by securing the earliest available appointment.

The above meant that learners with driving instructors (which is the vast majority), were able to secure an appointment within a reasonable time following being ready for their test or re-test. They delays were therefore not having as much of an impact.

Now, because instructors cannot legally book or manage tests on a learner’s behalf, revoked drivers must monitor availability and complete the booking themselves. This can make it more difficult to obtain an earlier retest, particularly for learners who are less confident with the booking system or unaware of newly released appointments.

Whilst the new changes directly tackle fairness and reducing exploitation, it has practical consequences for a specific group of drivers who need to get back on the road quickly after a licence revocation – such as those with their licence revoked under the New Driver provisions.

New Driver Legislation

The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 provide that any driver that accumulates 6+ points within the first 2 years following passing their practical test, will have their driving lest revoked by the DVLA. This would require the driver to re-apply for a provisional licence and re-take their driving tests.

Any driver in this position would be subject to the same delays as any driver taking their test for the first time.

Practical Differences of Delays for “New Drivers”

Unlike a learner driver, who has never held a licence, a New Driver who has their licence revoked may have already built their lives being able to drive. They may have accepted a job on the basis of having a licence, and the loss of that job could have significant financial consequences on them and their family.

Unfortunately, there is no appeal process for a driver that has had their licence revoked under the “New Driver” provisions. The DVLA must revoke the licence, regardless as to that drivers need for the licence.

The above therefore means that a driver cannot appeal to the DVLA to keep their licence due to needing their licence for one of the following reasons:

1. Caring responsibilities.
2. Medical needs.
3. Living in rural areas.
4. Financial impact.
5. Family life.

Alternative To Revocation

The Court are not be involved in the revocation of licences. That is the sole responsibility of the DVLA. The Courts role is to solely sentence an offence in accordance with legislation, and further to be directed by their sentencing guidelines.

The only alternative to revocation for many drivers is to therefore ask the Court for a different sentence, that will indirectly avoid revocation. The Sentencing Council addresses the above stating as follows:

“An offender liable for an endorsement which will cause the licence to be revoked under the new drivers’ provisions may ask the court to disqualify rather than impose points. Generally, this would be inappropriate: the court should impose penalty points rather than discretionary disqualification so that the requirement to take a further test applies”.

There are also many offences whereby there are a range of number of penalty points that can be awarded, and the Court can choose to impose less than 6 points based on the particular facts of the case and any other mitigation presented.

Arguments Against Short-Term Disqualification for New Drivers

The Sentencing Council discourage the Magistrates’ Court from sentencing as above stating that it would “circumvent” the intention of Parliament, which was to improve road safety by encouraging newly qualified drivers to maintain high driving standards in the first 2 years of driving.

During the bills passage through Parliament the Government explained that the Act was intended to:

1. Reduce collisions involving newly qualified drivers.
2. Deter risky or careless driving during the probationary period.
3. Emphasise that passing the driving test is the beginning of learning, not the end.
4. Ensure that drivers who quickly demonstrated poor driving behaviour were required to requalify.

The Court can therefore offer a “short-term” disqualification to avoid revocation of a person’s licence. However, they are not encouraged to do so in most cases. The Court therefore must be satisfied that it is in the “interests of justice” to do so.

Arguments For Short-Term Disqualification for New Drivers

Therefore whilst the Court can depart from their guidelines, and impose a short-term disqualification (or lesser points) to indirectly avoid the revocation of a persons licence, they must be satisfied that there is a good reason to do so – such as the following:

1. In considering certain type of offences, the punishment of revocation may be disproportionate to the offence that has taken place. For example, for an offence of driving without insurance, this is an administrative offence only and is not indicative of a person’s standard of driving. It is an administrative offence only. Many drivers that commit such offences may have done so mistakenly, and without any intention or malice. It may therefore be viewed that re-taking a test, and waiting months to do so, is unnecessary for someone who’s standard of driving has not been called into question – particularly if significant consequences will occur.

2. That revocation, combined with current waiting times, can produce consequences that are significantly more severe than Parliament intended when the legislation was enacted in 1995. For example: loss of job, inability to care for a dependant family member or friend, inability to meet financial obligations. Prior to the pandemic, New Drivers with licence revocations would be able to re-take their tests and have their licences re-instated within a few short weeks. During this period potential consequences that would occur due to long term loss of licence could be avoided. Parliament could not have predicted that waiting test delays would increase to the extent that they have as even just prior to the pandemic the waiting period was 5 weeks.

3. That an offence has been committed due to “extenuating circumstances” such as a genuine emergency, that would therefore mean that revocation would be deemed as unfair. This may be an attractive argument to the Court, as it demonstrates that the incident is isolated to a particular event rather than a pattern of poor driving.

4. If a driver takes positive steps to address their offending behaviour, such as enrolling on a driver improvement course and therefore demonstrates that they are taking active steps to correct bad habits or attitudes. This may demonstrate that further re-testing is not needed, as re-education has already been achieved.

5. Other minor points, whilst not strong mitigation by themselves, may be enough combined with one or multiple of the above factors to convince the Court to depart from their guidelines such as good character, early guilty plea, remorse and good driving before and since the incident.

Representation at Court Proceedings for New Drivers

These arguments are not straightforward and require careful navigation of both the sentencing guidelines and the statutory framework governing new drivers. The Courts retain a strong presumption in favour of imposing penalty points, and any departure from that approach will depend heavily on the specific facts of the case and the strength of the mitigation advanced.

Given the complexity of these issues and the significant consequences that can follow a conviction, including automatic licence revocation and lengthy delays in regaining a full licence, it is essential that proper legal advice is sought at the earliest opportunity.

Our firm has extensive experience in motoring law and is well placed to provide clear, practical guidance and robust representation to help achieve the best possible outcome in each individual case.

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Graham McCormack

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• Driving Test Delays, Licence Revocation and the New Booking Rules: What Every Learner Driver Needs to Know. - June 30, 2026