Preet Kaur Gill MP welcomes thousands of extra driving tests each month to reduce waits for driving tests in Birmingham
- Preet Kaur Gill MP
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Learner drivers are set to benefit from reduced waiting times as the Transport Secretary announced new measures today (23 April 2025) to combat test-buying bots and provide thousands of additional tests every month.
The news is particularly welcome for Birmingham, where an answer to a written parliamentary question tabled last month by Birmingham, Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill revealed record waiting times of 24 weeks in Birmingham driving test centres. Average waits of 24 weeks makes Birmingham one of the hardest places in the country to book a driving test, with waits 3 weeks longer than the national average.
To open up more tests and break down barriers to opportunity, the Government has announced:
• those in other DVSA roles who are qualified to examine will be asked to return to the frontline to provide practical driving tests
• doubling the number of permanent trainers to skill up new driving examiners quickly
• accelerated consultation to investigate the potential abuse of the driving test booking system and prevent bots from accessing tests
• reintroduction of overtime pay incentives for everyone delivering driving tests
Under the previous Conservative government, waiting times at some test centres in Birmingham quadrupled. Taken together, the government aims for the measures to reduce driving test waiting times to seven weeks by summer next year.
Preet Kaur Gill MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Edgbaston, said:
“Passing your driving test is a life changing milestone – but excessive waiting times for tests are preventing too many people from reaching that goal.
“My constituents should not have to wait six months, travel to the other side of the country for a test and be ripped off by unscrupulous websites just because they can’t afford to wait.
“The scale of the backlog Labour has inherited is huge, so I welcome the government’s plan – which includes training more examiners, redeploying trained examiners at the DVSA to the frontline, and tightening cancellation rules – to support more people to take their test.”
NOTES
1. Data revealing the waits in Birmingham:
Driving test centre Average waiting time as of the 17 March 2025 (in weeks).
Birmingham (Kings Heath) 24
Birmingham (South Yardley) 24
Birmingham (Shirley) 24
Birmingham (Garretts Green) 24
Birmingham (Kingstanding) 24
The current national average for driving tests as of February 2025 is 21.3 weeks.
2. Increase in waits in Birmingham from 2019-2023: https://www.drivingtestroutes.co/test-centre-waiting-times#westmidlands
ENDS
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