- The UK’s Department for Transport has turned to the military to help it sort its driving test system.
- 36 Ministry of Defense examiners will test civilian drivers for one day every week for the next year.
- New rules will make it harder for bots to book test slots and sell them for 10 times the official rate.
“Okay Miss Jones, if you could take the next exit at the roundabout, please, then fire your rocket launcher at that blue Fiesta.” As if taking your driving test wasn’t already nerve-wracking enough, British learners now face an added stress.
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The person sitting next to them, and ultimately giving them the thumbs up or thumbs down, could be from the country’s military.
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There’s no suggestion that the Ministry of Defense drivers being temporarily drafted in to help the UK fix its crazy driving test backlog will be wearing a uniform – in fact they’re all civil servants, not military officers. And nor should they be any less pleasant than a regular driving examiner, but still, you can imagine it adding to the tension on test day.
Who’s Behind The Wheel?
The UK’s MoD has its own team of driving examiners to help its armed forces personnel pass their tests, and 36 of those examiners are being seconded to help civilians get their own license (or licence, as Brits know it).
They’ll each spend one day per week over the coming year conducting civvy tests at an estimated cost of £100,000 ($131k), the BBC reports.
This fairly drastic move is aimed at cutting horrendous wait times for test in the UK. The average time between booking a test and taking it across the country’s 319 test centers was 22 weeks as of June.
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That’s frustrating for drivers who feel ready to have their driving examined, but can also be hugely expensive if you’re paying £80 ($105) every week for a lesson just to keep your hand in.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is busy trying to recruit hundreds of permanent examiners to plug the shortage, but existing employees are leaving almost as fast as new ones are signing up. To make sure those that join hang around they’ll be offered £5,000 ($6,600) “retention payments” from next year, the BBC says.
Bots, Backlogs, and Big Markups
But a shortage of examiners is only partly responsible for the long wait times. Another major factor is the swarm of automated bots that instantly gobble up newly released test slots, leaving genuine learners locked out.
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These bots are used by third-party resellers who then list the £62 ($81) tests for as much as £500 ($660), often advertising them on social media or private booking sites.
That unfair loophole is being closed, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said today, and from now on only learner drivers themselves, and not third parties, will be able to book driving tests.
Alexander said the change would stop learners being “exploited by online bots,” echoing a call from 38 MPs who have urged the government to take “the strongest possible action” to stamp out the practice.
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