Newslink September 2021

L-test waiting times
Looks like you’ll just have
to take a swing, chuck
After a frustrating search
for a driving test, Newslink
production manager Rob
Beswick offers a parent’s
view of the increasing crisis
surrounding waiting times.
I’m sure all MSA GB members have been
inundated with complaints from pupils
and parents over the paucity of available
L-test slots in recent months. It’s an
appalling problem, particularly as it is
one ADIs have little control over. All you
can do is offer sympathy and, perhaps,
point out the positives: if their precious
offspring can’t rush to an L-test now, at
least parents can be reassured by the
knowledge that by the time they do find
an available slot, their son or daughter
will have banked more valuable driving
experience for their future life on the
open road – and will be more likely to be
test ready, too.
But apart from the sympathy, have you
put yourselves in the shoes of those
frustrated pupils – and their parents? If
you don’t book L-tests for your pupils, do
you have a real grasp of just how bad the
situation is in your area?
I’ll be honest, this problem is a big one
for me at the moment because I have a
dog in the fight, as the old saying goes. A
little background as to why. My eldest
turned 17 three years ago with no interest
in learning to drive, and as she was deep
in to challenging A levels, we let the idea
slide. That’s a mistake we won’t be
making with her siblings, by the way.
Move on two years, now at university,
and the driving bug finally bit. Sadly, it
bit at just about the same time as Boris
Johnson announced the first lockdown,
so her learning journey has been fairly
reminiscent of a first lesson: stuttering,
occasional stall, progress pretty slow. An
initial batch of lessons were quickly
followed by a swathe of cancelled ones,
before picking up the cudgels again over
summer... before pausing again. You can
picture the diary chaos, I’m sure.
However, she has made progress, and
by Easter of this year, with a stop-start
20 lessons under her belt, she felt ready
for her theory test. It took a while to get
a slot but one was finally secured in July,
and she passed first time, while adding
more lessons to the account and
increasing her experience by driving
round with mum and dad in between.
So what of the L-test itself? Her
learning to drive journey has been made
a tad more challenging by being based in
two places – her home town of Stockport
and her university city, Leicester – but
we’ve found accommodating instructors
in both. By the time of her return to
university around 30 lessons will be in
the bank, with more to add.
With test waiting times at 17 weeks
according to the DVSA, we were under
no illusion that it would be a struggle to
secure a test, but we decided it was
better to get one in the book now and
carry on learning. There seemed little
point getting her test-ready and then
finding out that the test date itself was
17 weeks – four months – in the future.
So we log on to the DVSA test booking
site, fully aware that tests would be hard
to come by. But blimey, we didn’t know
just how difficult. On August 1, looking
at slots anywhere in Greater Manchester
for December, a date picked to coincide
with university holidays, there were no
tests available. At all. Stretch the test
date out to include early January and still
nothing.
Widen the search. Leave Greater
Manchester behind and head for the
whole of the southern North West, from
Preston south. Hurray! Warrington,
Cheshire, 40 miles away, mid-January,
and finally a slot is available.
Wow. In the whole of Greater
Manchester -– that’s an area with a
population of close to three million – there
were no tests at all until mid-January.
That’s around 27 weeks – or more than
half a year. So what does that make of the
DVSA’s hopeful suggestion that L-test
waiting times are around 17 weeks? Dare
I ask, where can you find a test in only 17
weeks?
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NEWSLINK n SEPTEMBER 2021