Driving Tests: Swindon
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the impact on learner drivers of average practical driving test waiting times at Swindon Driving Test Centre; and what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times and increase test availability at that centre.
Answered by Simon Lightwood
The Government set out a comprehensive package of measures in April 2025 to tackle long waiting times, aiming to deliver around 10,000 additional tests per month. A key step was reintroducing overtime incentives.
As well as this, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continuing with recruitment campaigns and going further to make the booking system fairer. These are practical steps to increase supply, protect access to tests, and bring waiting times down.
For Swindon driving test centre (DTC), DVSA is planning further recruitment campaigns for new driving examiners (DEs) to provide as many tests as possible, as well as looking at bringing in additional resource from other areas to increase test availability.
Additionally, in the Swindon area, 1,536 additional overtime tests were delivered between June 2025 and May 2026 when compared to the previous year. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme the Agency introduced in June 2025.
DVSA has published more detailed data-sets so learners can get better understanding of the booking system. More information and waiting time data, including Swindon DTC and other DTCs serving the area, can be found on GOV.UK.
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