Following further easing of lockdown restrictions in England and Wales, learners are being encouraged to practise driving with a professional instructor when driving lessons restart in both countries on April 12.

Car driving tests will restart on 22 April to give learners the chance to practise with a professional instructor and make sure their skills are up to standard before attempting a test.

Private practice with an accompanying driver from within a learner’s household has been allowed on non-essential journeys since 27 March in Wales and 29 March in England.

DVSA Chief Executive Loveday Ryder said: “I know the suspension of tests and lessons has been incredibly hard for learners and many are keen to take their test now, but it is important that candidates are properly prepared and don’t rush to take it.

“With more than half of candidates failing, and demand currently extremely high for tests , learners should only take their test only when they are confident they can pass. This will help them to avoid a lengthy wait for a retest and help us by not adding to the backlog of tests.

“We are doing all we can to provide as many tests as possible and I know that it will be frustrating for some time. We are sorry for any inconvenience but please bear with us as we start getting our services back to normal.”

DVSA is using a phased approach to safely restart testing:

  

·         29 March - riding lessons and Compulsory Basic Training restarted 

·         29 March - bus lessons and tests restarted

·         12 April – theory tests restart for all candidates – including Approved Driving Instructor part 1 tests

·         12 April – motorcycle tests restart

·         12 April – car driving lessons restart

·         12 April – lorry lessons and tests restart

·         12 April – minibus lessons and tests restart

·         22 April – car driving tests restart

·         22 April – driving instructor testing and standards checks

To help increase the number of tests available for learners, DVSA is:

·         Offering more tests outside of normal working hours, including weekend and bank holidays.

·         Ensuring all dvsa staff who are qualified to perform driving tests are doing so, such as senior managers and policy staff.

·         Recruiting new driving examiners in england, scotland and wales

Safety measures have been put in place to protect learners and examiners from COVID-19 and DVSA has published information on gov.uk so candidates know what to expect. The safety of customers and examiners is DVSA’s top priority and the agency will continue to follow government advice to stop the spread of coronavirus.

To help reduce the amount of time the candidate and examiner spend in the vehicle when the candidate has failed their test, examiners will continue to end car driving tests early if a candidate commits either a serious or dangerous fault, or a total of 16 driver faults. The suspension of testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to exceptionally high demand for driving tests. There are currently over 420,000 candidates with tests booked.

Measures to protect DVSA’s customers and staff from COVID-19 have limited the number of available tests and as a result of the pandemic and the suspension of testing there will be high demand for tests for some time. Learners who are properly prepared to take a driving test should be able to take and pass a test at any driving test centre, so should look for alternative test sites if their local centre is fully booked.

The Scottish Government has announced that driving lessons can potentially restart on April 26, if coronavirus restrictions are lifted in Scotland as proposed. Theory tests will also restart from this date. Motorcycle and car tests will restart 10 days later on 6 May, if restrictions are lifted on April 26.