The new rules introduced this week mean it is now against the law for anyone apart from the learner driver to book their driving test with the DVSA and the government hopes this will stop third parties accessing the booking system using learner drivers details.
From now, it means anyone selling or changing a test on someone else’s behalf will be breaking the law.
Those rules won’t have a direct impact on waiting times for test slots, but should result in fewer wasted tests and help the DVSA measure where real demand is – helping the agency divert resources to testing centres that need it most.
But Carly Brookfield, chief executive of the Driving Instructors Association, doubts the changes will fix the problem.
She says the rule change scapegoats the majority of instructors who were doing the right thing, and she is already hearing reports of frustrated learners who now cannot be assisted by their instructor to book a test.
“There have been things the agency’s done that have been productive to stop the rot of the bots,” she tells the BBC. “But the reality is we’ve also got this massive test supply issue that if there’s not enough tests going in, people will still not be able to get a test anywhere.”
Simon Lightwood, the Minister for Roads and Buses, said the government had inherited record waiting times and a huge backlog of learners waiting for tests, with the system seeing too many people paying over the odds to third-party touts.
“But we’re taking action and seeing results, delivering almost two million tests over the past year, more than 158,000 extra tests since June 2025, and military driving examiners now on the ground helping boost capacity across the country,” he added.
Further changes will be introduced in June which will allow learners to swap their driving tests to only three of their local test centres.