Backlogs and bots: Why new drivers are struggling to ditch their L plates

Backlogs and bots: Why new drivers are still struggling to get their licence

TL;DR: Why are new drivers struggling to get their licence?

Getting a driving licence in the UK has never been more difficult or expensive.

The backlog of over one million tests, built up over the Covid-19 pandemic, has never fully cleared – average waiting times stood at 22 weeks as of September 2025, with the DVSA not expecting to hit its target of seven weeks until the end of 2027.

In the meantime, automated bots and third-party resellers have been exploiting the shortage, with some learners paying up to £500 for a test slot that should cost £62.

New DVSA rules introduced in 2026 aim to crack down on resellers and restore order to the booking system, but the queue is still growing.

Ever wondered why there seems to be more learner drivers on our roads these days?

The driving test backlog isn’t a post-pandemic hangover that’s slowly clearing. According to a December 2025 National Audit Office (NAO) report, the average wait for a practical test had reached 22 weeks by September 2025, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVSA) doesn’t expect to hit its target waiting time of seven weeks until the end of 2027.

Back in 2020, when the world hit the brakes during the Covid-19 pandemic, driving tests ground to a halt and waiting lists began to build.

But the problem has proven far harder to shift than anyone anticipated, and opportunistic third parties have made things considerably worse.

Automated bots have been snapping up available test slots in bulk, leaving genuine learners with little choice but to pay inflated prices through resellers –sometimes up to £500 for a test that should cost £62.

The DVSA has introduced measures to tackle this, but bot activity remains high.

And even for those who manage to book a test, the financial pressure of learning to drive has never been greater. Lessons, theory tests, insurance and running costs all add up.

And for many new drivers, that bill is becoming harder to meet.

So why, years after the lockdowns ended, are L plates staying on for longer? Here’s what’s behind the backlog.

How the initial backlog started

It’s hard to keep taking lessons, or sit your test, during a lockdown.

The UK went through three periods of lockdown restrictions between March 2020 and February 2021, and the impact on driving tests was immediate and severe. Official DVSA data shows that tests collapsed from over 138,000 in February 2020 to just 606 in April 2020 – a near-total shutdown.

By February 2021, during the third lockdown, that figure had fallen even further to just 68 tests across the whole of Great Britain.

People continued to turn 17 throughout the pandemic, but couldn’t start learning. Those already in lessons couldn’t progress. And even during the brief windows between restrictions, social distancing rules made it difficult for pupils, instructors, and examiners to operate normally.

The result was a backlog that the system has never fully recovered from.

A December 2025 NAO report estimated the total pandemic backlog at 1.1 million tests, with around 360,000 of those still not booked. Forward bookings, which sat at around 194,000 in January 2019, had climbed to over 665,000 by March 2026, with no sign of the queue shortening.

And as demand kept building, others saw an opportunity.

Black market bandits

If you’ve ever tried to get tickets for a major event, you’ll know the drill.

The moment they go on sale, touts and resellers are in first. Snapping up availability in bulk, and flipping them at inflated prices before genuine fans get a look in.

The driving test market has developed a remarkably similar problem.

When a test slot is available through the DVSA booking system, it costs £62. But with average waiting times hitting 22 weeks and 70% of test centres at maximum capacity, available slots have become genuinely scarce.

And where there’s scarcity, there’s someone looking to profit from it.

Third-party resellers, many using automated bots to snap up slots the moment they appear, have been exploiting that scarcity at scale. The December 2025 NAO report found that nearly a third of learners (31%) had used a third-party website to book their test, with some paying up to £500 for a slot that should cost £62.

Despite anti-bot software being introduced, the NAO found that bot activity remains high.

It’s a straightforward operation: Control the supply, set the price, and wait for desperate learners to pay it. And with hundreds of thousands of people stuck in a queue that keeps getting longer, the market for resold slots shows no sign of drying up.

The DVSA has been working to shut it down. But progress has been slow.

What is the DVSA doing?

The DVSA has introduced a series of measures over the past year to tackle both the backlog and the reseller problem – but the NAO report makes clear that the system is still a long way from where it needs to be.

On the reseller front, the DVSA tightened its cancellation rules in April 2025, requiring learners to give 10 full working days’ notice to cancel or change a test without losing their fee, up from just three days. The aim was to reduce the churn of last-minute cancellations that resellers had been exploiting to recycle slots.

In November 2025, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that learners themselves would be the only people permitted to book tests, removing driving instructors and third parties from the booking process entirely.

That rule will come into force on 12 May 2026, and from the same date it’ll become illegal for anyone else to book, change, or cancel a test on a learner’s behalf.

And there are further restrictions.

• 31 March 2026: Learners have been limited to two changes to their booking instead of six, aiming to close another route resellers have exploited
• 9 June 2026: Learners will only be able to move a test to one of the three nearest centres, ending the practice of shifting bookings across the country

These are meaningful steps.

But the NAO’s assessment of where things stand is stark: The average wait for a practical test was 22 weeks as of September 2025, 70% of test centres are operating at maximum waiting times, and bot activity remains high despite anti-bot software being in place.

DVSA has run 19 recruitment campaigns since 2021, but has only managed a net gain of 83 examiners against a target of 400, with high exit rates driven by uncompetitive pay and safety concerns cited as the main obstacles.

The DVSA’s own target of reducing waiting times to seven weeks has been pushed back to the end of 2027.

For the hundreds of thousands of learners currently in the queue, the measures are welcome – but the wait goes on.

The financial roadblock

The backlog and the resellers are only part of the picture.

For many would-be drivers, the more immediate obstacle is simply the cost of getting started.

A 2026 study by National Scrap Car puts the average cost of learning to drive at £2,459 – up 30% since 2020. The biggest driver of that increase is the cost of professional tuition, which has risen by 37% over five years to an average of £39 per hour.

At the government-recommended 45 hours of instruction, that’s £1,755 in lessons alone.

And that’s before accounting for a £34 provisional licence, theory and practical test fees, and learner insurances, which now averages £355.

The waiting times aren’t helping, either.

With average test delays sitting at 22 weeks, many learners are taking additional lessons simply to stay test-ready while they wait for a slot to become available. That’s cost on top of cost, with no guarantee of a slot at a fair price at the end of it.

Government data tells a stark story about what this is doing to licence uptake.

According to the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey, just 29% of 17-20-year-olds in England held a full driving licence in 2024 – down from 35% in 2019. Among 21-29-year-olds, the figure has fallen to 61%.

The same data shows that:

• 38% of non-driving 17-20-year-olds in 2023 cited the cost of learning as a barrier to driving
• 29% of the same age group cited the cost of insurance as another barrier, a figure that's risen from 19% in 2009

And, once qualified, costs don’t ease up.

According to 2026 data from NimbleFins, the average annual cost of running a car in the UK now stands at around £3,490, up 8% since 2020.

Insurance accounts for around £559 of that, with repairs and servicing adding a further £503. For younger drivers, insurance alone typically runs significantly higher.

A 2023 survey by road safety charity Brake and AXA UK found that 29% of drivers had already cut down on time behind the wheel to save money, and one in five had considered selling their car due to running costs.

Half of all respondents had changed their behaviour in some way to manage the expense of keeping a vehicle on the road.

With lesson prices forecast to exceed £53 per hour by 2030, the financial barrier to getting a licence shows little sign of shrinking. And for the 21% of non-driving 21-29-year-olds who now say they will never learn, it may already be too late.

The road to independence

The path to getting a full licence has rarely been this complicated.

Pandemic backlogs, automated bots, resellers charging eight times the standard fee, a recruitment crisis among examiners, and rising lesson costs have combined to create a set of obstacles that previous generations of learners simply didn’t face.

The DVSA’s 2026 rule changes are meaningful – limiting bookings to learners only, capping changes to two per booking, and restricting transfers to nearby centres are all steps in the right direction.

But the NAO’s December 2025 assessment is clear:

• Average waiting times in September 2025 stood at 22 weeks
• 70% of test centres are at maximum capacity
• The target of seven-week waiting times won't be hit until the end of 2027

The queue isn’t clearing either, with forward bookings continuing to rise, reaching over 665,000 by March 2026.

The wider picture is equally sobering.

The proportion of 17-20-year-olds in England holding a full driving licence has fallen from 33% in 2010 to 29% in 2024, a decline that predates the pandemic and shows no sign of reversing.

Among non-drivers aged 21-29, the share who say they’ll never learn has crept up from 18% in 2019 to 21% in 2023. For a growing number of people, the combination of waiting times, lesson costs, insurance barriers, and running costs isn’t just making driving harder to access – it’s making it feel out of reach entirely.

But for learners working through this right now, a few things are worth keeping in mind:

• Book your test directly through gov.uk: It's the only legitimate route, and from May, it'll be the only legal one
• Be realistic about timeframes and costs: A 22-week wait means many learners will need to budget for top-up lessons to stay ready
• Remember the government-recommended 45 hours isn't a fixed rule: Some learners will pass with fewer hours, especially if you can supplement lessons with supervised private practice

Once you do get there, the independence that comes with a full licence opens up a lot of doors.

Including more flexible and affordable ways to get into a car than buying outright.