Passing Your Driving Test After Lockdown
At last, we’re back on the road! After the easing of restrictions on the 12th of April, learner drivers are now not only able to restart lessons but also book tests. With driving tests scheduled to restart on the 22nd of April here’s a heads up of Passing Your Driving Test After Lockdown.
Theory Test News
Theory tests restarted on the 12th of April 2021. Like the practical driving test, there are huge backlogs of students wanting to take the first step to becoming road legal. Why not get your theory test booked early and study while you wait. A recent email from the DVSA has detailed the plans of reducing theory test waiting lists. Here’s a rundown of how they plan to go about it.
- From Monday 10th May to Wednesday the 30th of June opening hours at most theory test centers will be extended
- The DVSA is opening 10 temporary larger theory test centers. The centers will be situated in Cambridge, Huddersfield, London (docklands) London (Holborn), and Wolverhampton.
Make A Day Of It By Booking Your Theory Test Somewhere Else
If you’re struggling to find a suitable appointment at your local test center you may feel like traveling a little further a field. A few of our students have even made a day out of it and gone to visit somewhere they’ve never been before. It’s not all doom and gloom!!
Follow this link to book or change your theory test date or location.
Will There Be An Extension To My Theory Test Due To Lockdown?
From the day you pass your theory test you have two years to pass your driving test. Many time periods for tests have been exended due to lockdown but unfortunately the theory test is not one of them. If your theory test runs out you will have to retake the test.
Practical Driving Test Corona Cancellations
Over the course of lockdown, a staggering 48% of learner drivers have had their tests canceled due to COVID 19 lockdown restrictions. As a result, a staggering 420,000 people are scrambling for a driving test. In some areas of the U.K. people are having to wait up to 17 WEEKS!!
This has changed the way our instructors have had to plan our client’s courses. With the usual 5-week waiting list more than doubled, securing a test date early and working towards it seems to be the best road to take.
For intensive courses we can still deliver them, however, it may be a case of getting road safe and ready for the test and then having to wait a while until your test day. We have been suggesting if you have completed an intensive course you may want to have some extra refresher lessons a bit closer to test day. Alternatively, some of our students are holding a few hours back from the intensive course to take closer to test day.
Pass Me Faster’s Advice
Have a chat with your instructor and take guidance from them about booking your test. All our instructors are happy to help and will give you a good idea of when you will be ready.
Here’s a link straght to the DVSA’s booking page!
How Coronavirus Has Affected The Driver Trainer Industry
Alongside the delays to theory tests and practical tests for learner drivers, Covid 19 has had a large impact on the driver training industry too.
Many Approved Driving Instructors (ADI’s) have left the industry. Whether this was through the illness itself or maybe seeking work elsewhere during lockdown restrictions. Some have even returnded to previous jobs, which means there are fewer driver trainers about at the moment.
Booking up with an instructor early may not be a bad idea.
The DVSA have also lost a lot of examiners and are currently in the middles of a larger recruiting and traing process. This will hopefully help to start reducing the backlog of tests.