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DVSA is reopening the trainer booking service from Monday 6 July with vocational and motorcycle tests available from 13 July 2020, in England.
Driving instruction and testing in Scotland and Wales, other than for critical workers, have not yet been able to restart following the advice of Scottish and Welsh governments.
We will let you know when you are able to book test slots in Scotland and Wales.
A phased return
On Monday 6 July the booking window will be opened for all test bookings for the week commencing 13 July. The booking service will open at the normal times of 7am for motorcycle bookings and 7:30am for vocational bookings.
On Wednesday 8 July the booking window for tests taking place during week commencing 20 July will be opened. All test centre opening days will be on Mondays and Wednesdays during this start up period, not your normal opening day.
This same process will be repeated with the booking window opening each Monday and Wednesday until Wednesday 22 July when we will review how the new booking system is working. This is to see whether we need to update which tests can be booked from 30 August onwards.
We will let you know when we are going to return to normal test centre booking opening days.
Booking allocations
You will be given a booking allocation based on:
- your previous booking history from the last month prior to tests being cancelled
- the number of bookings you made at the same time last year
Increasing flexibility
When the booking window opens on Mondays and Wednesdays we will hold some examiner resource back to increase test availability beyond the opening day, and to make sure DVSA has some additional resource in reserve to limit short notice cancellations.
You will be able to request additional slots after the opening day using the “Request to DVSA” facility on OBS.
We’ll contact you to let you know if your application for these test slots is successful or not.
Changes to test start times
The normal test times and the number of tests each day will change. This is so that we can implement social distancing measures at driving test centres. Initially there will be fewer tests available than usual.
Some of our driving examiners are also classed as vulnerable or clinically vulnerable and will not be able to return to work yet. We will keep test programmes and the number of tests under review.
Online booking service access for ADIs and other business users
To allow access to the trainer booking system and so our deployment team can reschedule our examiners' work patterns, we’ll need to open the online booking service for car tests too.
This means ADIs who are trainer bookers will also be able to view, move and cancel existing bookings.
You must not make any new bookings or amend any current bookings on the system for car driving tests.
We’ll be monitoring the use of the online booking service to make sure business or training schools do not break these rules or use the system unfairly.
Any unauthorised bookings will be cancelled, and firm action will be taken if anyone is found to be breaking the trainer booking rules. This may include suspension from the booking service.
Bookings for MMA training slots will open on 6 July for training slots from 11 July onwards.
They will open on Mondays and Wednesdays in parallel with test bookings. Training slots will be at the normal times and days for the centres you usually use and you will be allocated a booking limit for opening day.
As with test bookings DVSA will open training slots in stages until bookings can be made 4 weeks ahead.
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