A learner driver is having to make a 100-mile round trip just to sit his practical driving test, facing immense inconvenience and extra costs along the way.

Learner drivers in Bristol are facing an ever-growing challenge in securing driving test appointments, with many forced to travel significant distances for their examinations due to a severe shortage of local availability.

According to recent accounts, attempts to book tests at either of Bristol’s two test centres have proven futile for months on end, despite extensive and repeated attempts using the official booking system. It comes after UK drivers were warned over 'avoiding' road instead of having to follow new rule.

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Local Democracy Reporter Alex Seabrook wrote for Bristol Live: "The hardest part of learning to drive this year has not been clutch control nor navigating through the minefield of city centre construction work. There are two test centres in Bristol and I simply cannot book a test in either one despite many desperate months of trying."

The problem is not unique to Bristol — across the much of the UK, a long-standing backlog, originally sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left thousands unable to find test slots locally.

According to figures from May 2025 obtained by AA Driving School via the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), 81 per cent of test centres nationwide — a whopping 258 locations — had waiting times of 24 weeks, the system’s maximum, and some days saw zero test appointments available across the whole of the UK.

Emma Bush, managing director of AA Driving School, said: "With the vast majority of driving test centres now showing waits at the maximum the system will allow, the situation cannot get much worse."

For Bristol’s learner drivers, this shortage means that even neighbouring test centres have no slots available. Alex explained that after months of trying, the only option was to book a test in Hereford, approximately 50 miles from Bristol, highlighting the extraordinary lengths learners must go to just to secure a test date.

Underlying the booking crisis is a flourishing black market for test appointments, according to Alex. Scalpers, using automated bots and the personal details of learner drivers, book up large swathes of appointments when new slots open — typically at 6am each Monday — and resell them at double or triple the original price.

Alex said: "As soon as I had passed my theory test in March I began trying to book a practical test, and I have not stopped since then. First you have to pass the most complicated Captcha test I’ve ever come across, to check you’re a human and not a bot. They make me doubt I am in fact human. Then you have to wait about a minute while the website buffers, and finally you can choose which centre you would like to book a test in and when.

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"Except the next stage, 99 per cent of the time, is a message saying there are sadly no available tests that meet your requirements. I tried booking in centres near Bristol — Newport, Weston-super-Mare, Monmouth, Cardiff and Barry — and got the same message. Eventually, after about a month, I finally booked a test 50 miles away in Hereford.”

Alex sent a freedom of information request that showed one test doesn’t go ahead every day in both Kingswood and Avonmouth, "likely because scalpers can’t resell all their tests". Over the course of a year, in Avonmouth 344 tests didn’t happen because the examinee didn’t show up, with a further 439 in Kingswood.

Alex added: “I would much rather not have to travel so far for my test, as well as drive on unfamiliar roads. During most lessons now my instructor takes me to Kingswood, so that I can practise driving on the roads near the test centre there, which feels pointless, as I cannot change my test to Bristol.”

In July 2025, the DVSA’s annual report was released. Chief executive of the government body opened the report with a statement, saying: "Despite providing 1.96 million car driving tests this year we are not on track to meet our business plan target of reducing car practical test waiting times to seven weeks or less by December 2025. We recognise the impact this has on learner drivers across the country and on driving instructors and their businesses.

"We continue to progress this work, continually reviewing the impact of action taken and looking for further opportunities to improve the situation. We recognise that there are no quick fixes and that we need to re-balance supply and demand for tests alongside tackling the systematic abuse of the test booking system."

So instead of booking his driving test in Bristol, Alex ended up booking a hotel in Hereford, a fact he described as "frankly absurd".

For now at least, Bristol-based learner drivers must not only prepare for the practicalities of the road, but also the laborious logistical ordeal of booking a test — sometimes involving an unwanted 100-mile round trip and hotel stay.

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