Driving test wait time target will not be met until autumn next year

The driving test backlog won't be reduced to the target of seven weeks until autumn next year, the Transport Secretary has said.

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) figures show the average waiting time to book a test last month was nearly 22 weeks.

Last November, Heidi Alexander announced changes aimed at cutting long waits and preventing test slots getting booked up - including by bots - and resold at inflated prices.

Changes which have already come into effect including only allowing learners themselves to book their test slot.

The DVSA initially had a target of reducing the average waiting time to seven weeks by the end of 2025.

Alexander pushed this back to summer 2026, but admitted last November even that would not be possible.

She told a Committee of MPs on Wednesday that she understood people's frustrations and insisted the government has done a lot to tackle the issue.

However she added that "demand is still very high" and acknowledged there was still a lot of work to do.

The BBC has repeatedly heard from learner drivers frustrated by the difficulty of booking tests when, and where, they need them.

Some have ended up buying slots from resellers who charge many times the official cost of taking a driving test.

A BBC investigation in December found some driving instructors were being offered kickbacks of up to £250 a month to sell their login details to touts.

In the past few months, a number of changes to the test booking system have been introduced as part of efforts to combat the problem.