PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Driving Tests: North Cornwall (30 August 2024)
Question Asked
Asked by:
Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat)
Answer
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
As of 2 September 2024, there were 552,863 car practical driving tests booked, and 94,169 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The two driving test centres (DTC) within the North Cornwall constituency of Bodmin and Launceston are shown in the table below. The table shows the August 2024 average waiting time, number of booked car practical driving tests, and available tests as of 2 September 2024 at both DTCs.
DTC | Average car practical driving test waiting time Aug 24 | Booked tests | Tests available to book in 24 week booking window |
Launceston | 10 | 818 | 55 |
Bodmin | 18.3 | 1,974 | 422 |
National | 18.4 | 552,863 | 94,169 |
The DVSA understands how disappointing it is when driving tests are cancelled and therefore will only cancel appointments as an absolute last resort. Those affected by cancellations will automatically be offered a new appointment at the original test centre on the next earliest date available. If this is unsuitable, a candidate can check the booking service for alternative appointments.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers in DTCs, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners. The DVSA also continues to deploy examiners from areas with lower waiting times into those centres with longer waiting times. This is in addition to the DVSA recruiting additional examiners across the country into areas where waiting times are highest.
The table below shows the average waiting time for driving tests at each of the DTCs in Cornwall. Waiting time information per DTC is only available from April 2015 onwards. It is not possible to know the number of people who are waiting to take a test.
Financial year | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | Apr 24 - Aug 24 |
Bodmin | 8 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 7.1 | 7.6 | 10.9 | 10.7 | 9.8 | 15.4 |
Camborne | 4.5 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 7.2 | 9.5 | 14.5 | 15.1 | 12.7 | 15 |
Isles of Scilly* | 4 | 18 | 16.5 | Nil | 14.6 | Nil | 7.5 | 21.7 | 20.9 | 21.6 |
Launceston | 6.9 | 4.2 | 3 | 2.4 | 8.6 | 11.9 | 13.5 | 8.8 | 11 | 12 |
Penzance** | 7 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 4.9 | 15.8 | 21.7 | 20.4 | 23.9 |
*Isles of Scilly DTC is a remote DTC and operates a book-to-hold system. Examiners are deployed once candidates have booked to hold.
** Penzance DTC operates on a part time basis (2 days per week).
Answered by:
Lilian Greenwood (Labour)
9 September 2024
Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.