DRIVERS have been given an urgent warning as prices for crucial tests have skyrocketed.
Learning to drive is a daunting task for many, but Covid backlogs and block booking scams have meant securing the final exams can be next to impossible.
Lauren Jones has been struggling to book a driving test for seven monthsMirrorpix
GettyTest are being block booked and resold at hugely inflated prices[/caption]
The tests, which usually cost an average of £62, are being booked up and resold at whopping prices.
Facebook pages and resale sites are shipping slots on for as much as £450, leaving motorists in the lurch.
It is believed that dodgy dealers are using bots to get around the DVSA’s block on booking more than one test at once.
Combined with the number of tests delayed by the pandemic, it means that getting a test booked for a reasonable price has become a struggle, unless you want to wait several months.
The government remodelled the booking system last year in an attempt to ensure that only approved driving instructors (ADIs) could use it.
More than 4,5000 accounts were removed and bot protection was strengthened as part of the update.
However, the DVSA said that some ADIs have now become involved in the resale market, as it is legal to sell tests on at a profit.
Lauren Jones, from Brynmawr, South Wales, told The Mirror that she has tried to book a test every day for seven months without luck.
She said: “I don’t understand how it’s legal to block book tests, or how they are doing it.
“But they are block booking them and then selling them on for £300 a time.
“That’s because people are desperate to get driving tests booked in. They’re paying three or four times the proper rate.”
Time is running out for Lauren as her theory test certificate only runs until September.
If she doesn’t get a practical test by then, she’ll have to start the whole process again.
She added: “I thought the lack of availability was a backlog because of lockdown, but it’s now 2023, we’re halfway through the year.
“There must be something else going on.
“It all just seems like a moneymaking scam for everyone apart from the people just trying to get driving.”
Pals of hers have paid inflated prices on social media, while she has come across websites she thought looked like scams.
Loveday Ryder, chief executive of the DVSA, said: “DVSA is committed to tackling the reselling of driving tests at profit, and we have zero tolerance for those who exploit learners.
“We have changed the rules to prevent anyone from selling tests at profit, deploying new bot protection to stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly and we will remove the accounts of those who break the rules.”
MirrorpixIf Lauren doesn’t get a test by September she will have to start the process all over again[/caption] Read More