Learner drivers must wait until Wednesday to book their tests
LEARNER drivers will be unable to book a driving test until Wednesday due to “urgent maintenance” on the booking website after it crashed amid “unprecedented demand”.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency said that its driving test booking service had almost seven million visitors in 12 hours when it reopened after several months of suspension due to the lockdown.
It said yesterday that it had taken the service offline until 8am on Wednesday so that essential maintenance could be carried out to help it cope with the increased demand.
Gareth Llewellyn, its chief executive, said: “Coronavirus has severely impacted our business-as-usual operations, including by stopping driving tests in March. Since then, we have only been dealing with applications for
‘Following unprecedented demand for driving test bookings, we need to carry out urgent maintenance’
emergency driving tests for critical workers.
“Following unprecedented demand for the driving test booking system, with almost seven million attempts to book a test when it opened, we need to carry out urgent maintenance so people can book tests.
“We have to close the booking service until Wednesday and are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
The DVSA driving test booking service for England and Wales reopened again at 8am on Friday after being closed since March 20.
But the agency said that by 8pm the service had been visited almost seven million times, leaving candidates unable to complete their bookings.
The DVSA said some 210,000 tests were cancelled and tens of thousands more were delayed because of the virus. Learners whose tests were cancelled during lockdown were invited to rebook first in July.
Driving tests in Scotland are set to restart from Sept 14.