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Driving Tests

Asked by Mr Richard HoldenConservativeDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 15 June 2026UIN 6274

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which driving test centres were at 24 weeks wait times in a) April 2026 and b) May 2026.

Answered by Simon Lightwood

The table below shows failure-to-attends (FTA) as a percentage of the total number of bookings for April and May 2026.

Month

% FTA

April

2.7

May

3.0

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) monitors failure-to-attend rates and consider potential causes of those rates changing, together with potential interventions to reduce such rates, on an ongoing basis.

The answer to question 367 (of 20 May) provided the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre for April 2026. The attached spreadsheet shows the average waiting time for car practical driving tests at each driving test centre (based on the national average waiting time metric of when a minimum of 10% of test slots are available) for May 2026, including those test centres with an average waiting time of 24 weeks.

DVSA also records national median waiting time data (the time between the first test booking and test taken) for practical car driving tests. The national median waiting time for a practical car driving test in May 2026 was 9.7 weeks.

This data, broken down by driving test centre, is currently not available.

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