How 113,000 driving tests were cancelled in the past year due to examiners being off ill, on leave or striking as learner backlog mounts

There has been a 320 per cent rise in cancelled driving test bookings in the past 10 years due to examiners being off sick, on holiday or taking part in strikes, This is Money can exclusively reveal.

In the year to April 2023, 113,000 test bookings were axed at the last minute because examiners were unable to attend. This is up from 26,429 in 2012, official figures show. 

With more than half a million learners still waiting to sit their driving test as a result of the backlog accumulated during and post-pandemic, this revelation will be a bitter pill for budding motorists to swallow.

Especially as it comes after the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has taken aim at learners for failing to attend test bookings, bring correct documents or present an eligible vehicle. 

It even launched a ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign for candidates, despite cancellations by learners being lower than those for examiners.

We reveal the dramatic rise in the number of driving tests being cancelled as a result of examiners being off ill or on holiday. And it results in more cancellations than those involving learners not showing or having incorrect paperwork

Last year, the DVSA oversaw just over 1.5 million driving tests – an annual increase of 6 per cent as it continues to increase the number of slots post-pandemic.

However, its own data reveals that 113,173 test were cancelled in the 12 month period from April 2022 due to examiners failing to show, most commonly because they’re off sick.

This is a 328 per cent rise in a decade when compared to the 26,429 struck off for these reasons.

The volume of examiner-cancelled tests is far greater than the 78,000 chalked off in the same period as a result of candidates not turning up, bringing the wrong paperwork or not having a suitable car to undergo the exam.

And to add salt to learners’ wounds, when tests are cancelled due to an unavailable examiner, they are sent to the back of extensive booking queues to secure another test slot.

This can be up to five months at test centres with the longest queues, with the average delay across the UK being almost 15 weeks, based on data obtained in March. 

These are the 10 driving test centres with the highest examiner cancellation rates across the country

Analysis by driving test app, Route-Led, found that some test centres have an incredibly high examiner-cancellation rate.

In Taunton, for instance, almost one in five (18.3 per cent) tests last year were axed close to the exam date because an examiner was not available due to illness, time off or being involved in industrial action, it found.

With 7,336 bookings made at the test centre in the Somerset town, 1,342 of these were canned because examiners were off sick of on leave. 

In Chorley, of 4,098 tests booked by candidates there last year, 705 were cancelled due to examiners being unable to attend, which is 16.6 per cent of all slots. 

Weston-super-Mare, Rhyl (Wales) and Eastbourne also had examiner cancellation rates above 16 per cent. 

In most cases, these are the result of examiners being off ill (see tables below). 

In contrast, one DVSA test centre in Newport had a 0 per cent examiner cancellation rate in the same period, with all 3,412 bookings going ahead as planned. 

Others also had a relatively low cancellation rate, suggesting some locations are far worse than others (see the tables below).

DVSA blames learners for extended test backlog 

Despite knowing about this shocking rise in examiner cancellations, the DVSA has for months pointed the finger at learners for the backlog of driving tests not shrinking at a faster rate.

The logjam dates back to the pandemic – sparked when in 2020 all driving tests were put on hold to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

While the DVSA had typically conducted 1.8 million tests per year before the pandemic, that number dropped dramatically to just 400,000 in the financial year 2020 to 2021.

With 1.4 million fewer tests carried out than in a usual year, a sizable delay for learners to book tests emerged. 

And despite a raft of new measures – including a new booking system, increased availability of test slots at weekends and ex examiners being brought out of retirement to boost numbers – the DVSA has still not cleared this backlog.

In September, it announced further action with another 150,000 test appointment slots would be made available over the next six months in its latest bid to reduce delays.

Yet as of 16 October 2023, the backlog stood at 572,854 driving tests booked.

The DVSA said the backlog has increased in recent years due to ‘post pandemic demand’ and changes to its booking system, which allows learners to book further into the future and therefore artificially increases the numbers for waiting candidates.

Taunton test centre has the worst record of all. Almost one in five (18.3%) of tests booked there last year were axed because an examiner was not available, the DVSA figures reveal

The DVSA had previously said it’s inability to clear the backlog was due to falling candidate pass rates, claiming more learners had been sitting their tests when they were not ready to do so.

And in August last year, it introduced a ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign to help improve pass rates and cut waiting times.

In its latest Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 published in July, the agency said: ‘To reduce the number of avoidable cancellations we have implemented a text message reminder service. 

‘We have also launched our high profile ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign to improve learners’ preparedness for tests thus improving pass rates and reducing the volume of retests. 

‘We are also encouraging learner drivers to delay their test if they are not ready. 

‘As a result, we have seen a reduction in the number of avoidable test cancellations, enabling available tests to be used more productively.’

However, the same report failed to acknowledge that there were a greater number of cancellations resulting from examiners either off sick, on annual leave or dealing with disputes.

David Hesketh, co-founder of Route-Led who ran the analysis of DVSA data, says the agency has ‘rightly asked learner drivers to ensure that they are fully prepared when taking their driving test’ but adds that it may also want to reduce the number of tests being cancelled by the test centres themselves. 

‘Data from the DVSA suggests that over 110,000 tests booked by learner drivers were cancelled by the relevant test centres the bulk of which were due to examiners taking sick leave,’ he said.

What the DVSA had to say

This is Money contacted the DVSA to ask why the onus had been so heavily stacked on learners to reduce the number of cancellations rather than examiners – and what it was doing to improve the volume of cancellations by invigilators.

A DVSA spokesperson said: ‘We are taking all the measures we can to reduce driving test waiting times. This work, along with our examiner recruitment, is creating more than 40,000 extra tests every month.

‘Sustained industrial action, severe weather and circumstances beyond our control, such as sickness, mean that sometimes we need to cancel tests unavoidably.’

The DVSA added that it ‘continues to work successfully to bring its sickness rate down, but sick leave has increased across all sectors across the UK in recent years’.

It also said that bad weather and industrial action over pay – which is beyond DVSA’s control – were also reasons for cancellations in the last 12 months.

‘Driving examiners are civil servants. This means that their pay is subject to government guidance on pay and DVSA cannot independently set their pay,’ it said.

It also added: ‘Leave refers to “special leave”, not annual leave, which includes leave which employers must (by law) give to carers to cover such things as the teacher strikes or childcare during times of sickness. Holiday is planned in advance and would not result in test cancellations.

‘Tests cancelled due to “leave” and medical absences increased due to DVSA deploying all eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests.

‘This meant there was less “slack” in the system, as managers were already doing tests, there were no managers to cover examiners who could not work.’

If an examiner is unable to fulfil a practical driving test booking, not only do learners miss out on sitting their test that day but are then sent to the back of a queue of candidates stretching to over half a million

How some learners will have to wait OVER A YEAR to pass at some driving test centres 

Speaking to This is Money, David Hesketh said rising driving examiner cancellations have ‘exacerbated waiting times’ and means it can take over a year for some learners to pass their test. 

‘The worst places to take your test if you are a man are Erith (London) and Glasgow (Shieldhall) where it takes 64.6 weeks and 65.6 weeks to pass respectively,’ he said. 

‘For women, the worst places to take your test are Erith (London) and Birmingham (South Yardley) where it takes a whopping 77.9 weeks and 79.6 weeks to pass respectively. 

‘These test centres combine the worst of all worlds – long waiting times, low pass rates and high cancellation rates.’ 

He added: ‘In Taunton, for instance, any test has an 18.3 per cent chance of being cancelled. 

‘As a result, around one in five people will have their test cancelled and have to rebook and undergo an additional waiting period for their test. 

‘It’s even worse for people taking their test at Belvedere, London, where the waiting time is 15.6 weeks and the pass rate is just 31.2 per cent for men and a lowly 26.1 per cent for women. 

A cancellation rate of 14.2 per cent last year means that the average learner will take over a year to pass their test there – 58.3 weeks for men, 67.3 weeks for women.’ 

In contrast, learner drivers who book a test at centres in Cardigan, Newtown and Carmarthen in Wales or Norwich (Jupiter Road) and Watnall (Nottingham), the average learner driver can pass their test in fewer than 10 weeks.

Route-Led has made a significant update to its ‘Smart Test Finder’ search tool, which allows learners to input their information to find the best locations to book a test slot. 

The tool identifies driving test centres with the shortest waiting lists, the highest first-time pass rates and now the lowest driving examiner test cancellation rates and average time to pass near their home at each test centre. 

‘This will help alleviate the pressure on those test centres with longer waiting lists, lower pass rates and higher cancellations rates by encouraging driving test candidates to be more selective in their choice of driving test centre,’ Route-Led says. 

‘In turn it will assist reducing overall waiting times and help the DVSA in achieving its goal to reduce these waiting times.’

Route-Led is the UK’s number one driving test routes app on Apple provider for all the driving test centres in England, Wales and Scotland. It also helps learner drivers practice test routes before sitting their exam.