Just a word of advice to anyone who is starting driving lessons.
Right now, in Nottingham, if you wanted to book a practical driving test and there were any not yet taken, you would be looking at March 2023 for your test date. It’s six months – and when new dates are added each week, they disappear quickly.
You cannot book your practical test until you have passed your theory test. The waiting time for these is much shorter, and I am advising my new pupils to pass it as soon as possible so we can book a practical test and work towards it (six months is usually more than enough for most new learners). I point out that each week they delay booking their theory test just adds another week to whenever their practical test will be once we can get one booked.
Driving tests are government-issued events. They are not like candy you buy from the store.
If you want to book your theory test, use only this link.
If you want to book your practical test, use only this link.
If you want to check your practical test booking, use only this link.
And if you want to change your practical test booking, use only this link.
DO NOT search for how to do it on Google or any other search engine. If you are really so stubborn as to insist on doing so, go to GOV.UK – and nowhere else – and do it from there. Because if you DO go anywhere else, you will be scammed – at least out of some money, and quite possibly by not even getting a test. If you book through the government website, you get a test immediately (if any are available – if they’re not, you can’t book). If you are told they will ‘get back to you’ then you have been scammed, and it’s your own fault. Only GOV.UK can officially provide driving tests.
Yes, it is possible you might find a cancellation date sooner than six months hence. But this is in no way guaranteed – more people are looking for them than there are cancellations, so getting one is a matter of luck.
And yes, you can sign up to a cancellation checking service, but with these you have less control over the date and, in many cases, the venue. People who use them often get dates before they are truly ready to pass, often at as test centre they aren’t familiar with, so they fail, and then have to go through the whole process yet again, spending more money (and taking longer) than they might have done if they’d have just stuck with a normally booked driving test date at the test centre nearest to them.
It is also worth noting that DVSA is trying to block many of these services. After all, the dates available have to come from somewhere, and if the cancellation checker has them, you – and the tens of thousands of others learning to drive – don’t unless you pay the cancellation checker for them.
My only conditions concerning accepting cancellation bookings, however obtained, are:
- it must be at Colwick, Chilwell, or Watnall – you can forget Derby and Loughborough
- if it’s at Chilwell and you live in Hucknall, you’re not doing 1-hour lessons anymore
- likewise, if it’s at Colwick and you live in Long Eaton, change it or find another instructor
- if it overlaps with another test, I can’t do it
- it must be when you are test ready – not before
- if you’re crap with roundabouts right now, think twice about cancellations at Watnall
- you are not just ‘going to have a go’ in my car
- I don’t give a damn what your mum or dad has said
I am opposed to these services for the same reasons as DVSA. They are unfair on the majority, and they mess up learning schedules. I tolerate them – but not if the original test date of next year, which gave me time to teach someone to drive doing 1 hour a week, has been switched to three weeks away and they’re still beginners. And especially not if they then cancel their next two lessons (and yes, I blocked someone a few months ago for precisely that).
So, in summary. When you start your driving lessons (this is current for October 2022):
- start revising for your theory test as soon as possible
- book your theory test as soon as possible
- do regular driving lessons
- as soon as you have passed your theory, book your practical (assuming a 6-month wait)
- do not book a cancellation date – you can try that later
- accept that it takes time to learn, and six months is not that long once you live it