Reopening the driving test booking service


Reopening the driving test booking service

From tomorrow (Friday 21 August), we will be reopening the online booking service from 8am for everyone.

This means anyone will be able to book a driving test in England and Wales.

Test centres in Scotland remain closed, except for motorcycle tests. Driving lessons in Scotland will resume on 24 August and will let you know when driving tests can resume soon.

Making sure your pupils are prepared

We expect the demand for booking driving tests to be really high.

We know many of your pupils will be keen to book their test, but it’s important they speak to you first, to check they are ready and are well prepared.

We encourage you and your pupils to spend time practising on a variety of roads and in different driving conditions before booking their test.

Some of our services will unavailable tonight

So that we can make the booking service available from tomorrow, some of our services will be unavailable tonight (Thursday 20 August) from 6pm to 7:59am tomorrow (Friday 21 August) so we can prepare the system.

On GOV.UK, you won't be able to:

You'll still be able to book and manage theory tests.

Test slot availability

When your pupils arrange a test, they will be able to see available appointments within the next 6 weeks.

We're not taking bookings any further in advance at the moment. This is so we can react quickly to any changes in government guidance about coronavirus.

Your pupils should check all their nearest test centres for availability if they cannot book a slot at their local test centre.

New test slots will be made available every week, on a rolling 6 week basis, so you and your pupils should continue to check regularly for a test slot if you cannot find one immediately. 

Closing the critical worker helpline

The critical worker application service closed on 14 August. This was so that we could open up the online booking service for everyone.

As the service has closed, we will also be closing the critical worker phone helpline from Monday 24 August. 

Our customer service centre is still receiving an extremely high number of calls and emails.

We're sorry for the delays in getting through, but please help us by only calling if absolutely necessary.