If you are learning to drive and wondering “How do I get a driving test slot?”, then read on as this helpful blog will guide you.
You can book a driving test line online using this link HERE
It is available from 6am – 11.40pm. Alternatively you can call the booking service on 0300 200 1122 (8am – 4pm). If you have any problems, you can email them on customerservices@dvsa.gov.uk When booking a driving test you will need your provisional licence to hand.
But if your original question is more related to how to find a slot on the booking system rather than how to get access to the booking system, then read on.
The driving test booking system is a public service monitored and run by the regulator, the DVSA. This is a governmental organisation with no commercial ties. It does charge for the provision of conducting practical and theory tests but not for the booking service itself. Beware though, as there are supposed “providers” who will charge you beyond the current rates of the test fee itself. The fees are currently: £23 theory test fee and £62 weekday driving test fee or £75 weekend driving test fee. That is the only amount you should pay, if you are being asked to pay higher than those rates, then you are probably not on the DVSA booking service.
Driving schools and instructors do not have any additional access to driving test slots above and beyond the public. Monday mornings are said to be a useful time to check for driving test slots, and also early evening. There are added slots put on the system at the end of the month (30th) and mid-month (13th) so do look more around those dates (this will continue until 31/03/2024). But the thing to remember is that the driving test allotment or capacity is continually changing, minute by minute – quite literally. So what is showing on the system at any given moment in time, may be taken within seconds. The DVSA continues to work very hard in preventing ‘bots’ from pretty much automatically sweeping up test slots as they crop up as available. See HERE how the DVSA are attempting to deal with this problem.
A common misperception of the public is to go online, take a momentary look at what driving test slots are available and think that this is how it is, but in reality, people across the country are postponing and switching driving test slots all of the time, so it is changing, second by second. In addition to the natural changing of driving test times that the public makes, the DVSA itself is continually updating the system with added capacity, so our advice here at BIG TOM is for you to continually “refresh” the system while you are on it. If you have a spare 20 minutes for example, log on and keep refreshing to see how test slot provision changes.
At the time of writing this blog there are two driving test slots available in Boston on Thursday, 3 in Grantham on Friday, 1 in Peterborough on Friday and another on Saturday, 1 in Melton Mowbray on Saturday and 3 available in Lincoln next week. As you can see, these short-notice test slots are cropping up all of the time, you just have to be prepared to keep refreshing. For intensive driving course customers of BIG TOM, all of this is done for you, on your behalf, so that you can concentrate on the driving training.
In summary, long gone are the days when you had to book up your driving test months in advance and then as the time got nearer, start to panic if it looked like you weren’t going to be ready in time. There is now plenty of capacity for ‘short-notice’ driving test slots. Remember, these are test slots that crop up continually either by the public changing test times or the DVSA adding slots. BIG TOM has been making use of this service for intensive course customers since 2009, it is nothing new – this is how we are able to help customers get their full driving licence within literally 5 – 10 days of being on their BIG TOM course. Not all driving instructors are going to be prepared to offer this test booking service as many will consider it something that the pupil does, but here at BIG TOM we have been providing this as an extra benefit for several years.
If you are having technical problems with the online booking system, see this LINK
