Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, driving tests have been put on hold since March, but they have restarted on the 22nd of July in England, on the 17th of August in Wales and 14th of September in Scotland.
The DVSA initially rescheduled tests that were booked during the lockdown months (March - June). As the Government did not make the decision on restarting driving tests in time, those rescheduled tests by the DVSA were also cancelled. From the 16th of July in England and the 13th of August in Wales, those who had their tests cancelled 'put on hold' were invited via email to choose a new test date online.
The DVSA has stopped new applications for emergency theory and driving tests for critical workers on the 14th of August. If you have applied for an emergency driving test, the DVSA should have emailed you with a link to book your driving test.
There have been over 210,000 cancelled tests due to the pandemic, the DVSA should have invited everyone via email so that those whose tests were cancelled could rebook as a priority. From the 21st of August, the DVSA opened the booking system to the public in England and Wales. Their system has unfortunately been facing difficulties throughout due to the number of traffic visiting their website at the same time, this has also impacted the service for changing your driving test.
Once you manage to get on the DVSA system to book your test, you may find that the test availability is very low or no tests are available at your preferred test centre, the DVSA has been adding tests to the system 6 weeks in advance with tests being booked within a day. They have increased the test availability on September 14th by adding tests 18 weeks in advance with tests available until January 2021. More tests are being added every Monday going forward. If you can't book a test at your preferred test centre, you may want to try other test centres that are close by or keep checking the DVSA system regularly to book your slot.
When booking your test, you should always do so directly on the Government website and not via third parties that charge high admin fees on top of the test price https://www.gov.uk/book-driving-test (weekday tests are £62, weekend and evening tests cost £75).
All accounts prior to Covid-19 have been unpaused and users can restart their searches. New accounts can also sign up now. We can only search for cancellations if you have paid for your test (we only change your test). The availabilities in most test centres are very low in the next month or two, please be patient while we work hard to find you earlier slots as it will take longer than normal.
For more information and updates, you can visit the official Gov website here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-driving-tests-and-theory-tests