The Government recruitment campaign for more driving test examiners to cut waiting times has been labelled a ‘spectacular failure’ after just 3 per cent of applicants were offered jobs.
Figures show that last year just one in every 34 people who applied for a post as a practical driving test examiner got the job – meaning only 327 applicants were successful out of a total of 11,132.
This comes despite 19 separate recruitment drives since 2021 by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to reduce wait times to take the practical driving test, which averaged 22 weeks last year.
The National Audit Office said four months ago that 400 new examiners were needed to add to the current 1,556 to bring waiting times down to the DVSA’s target of seven weeks by the end of 2027.
But each year 12 per cent of examiners – around 186 – resign, often citing a low typical salary of £28,000 and stress. That means only around 140 extra examiners have been added, according to the figures – a third of the 400 target.
Richard Holden, the shadow transport minister, said: ‘Labour’s handling of driving tests is a failure so spectacular it takes genuine effort to achieve.
‘People desperate to drive are stuck paying for lessons they don’t need, watching their insurance bills climb, waiting months for a test slot that never materialises with waiting times having increased by a month since the General Election.
‘Nothing could be more symptomatic of Labour’s contempt for young people and a practical example of their war on drivers that they’re so abjectly failing to allow people to take a test to get people behind the wheel.’
Last year’s waiting time of 22 weeks to take a practical test compares to just five weeks in February 2020, according to the National Audit Office.
The AA said the drop-out rate of applicants revealed in the figures was too high and the DVSA had to speed up the process and do better.
AA driving school managing director Emma Bush said: ‘While not everyone who applies for the role will be suitable and some level of drop-out rate is to be expected, this does seem high.
‘This issue must remain under scrutiny as learners still face lengthy waits to get a test – impacting their ability to access work, education and facilitate their social lives and caring responsibilities.’
