Companies use automated software to buy and resell driving tests, then charge desperate students hundreds of dollars for earlier exam dates.
Learner drivers could face a year-long wait for a driving test due to DVSA backlogs created by Covid lockdowns, it was disclosed this week.
As of last Saturday, the DVSA’s test booking portal revealed that London has no vacant test slots for at least 24 weeks, with major towns such as Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, and Bristol experiencing similar problems.
Companies are now being exposed for exploiting desperate young learners by charging them hundreds of pounds while promising them faster tests.
Some companies use software to immediately take advantage of any cancelled driving exams.
It has been suggested that other companies are purchasing up blocks of examinations before reselling them to students.
A driving test on a weekday costs £62, but a test in the evening, on the weekend, or on a bank holiday costs £75.
One woman, though, told the BBC that she paid £210 in London for a test.
When she called her driving teacher, she was told that there had been a ‘cancellation,’ which meant that a slot had become available.
Her exam was scheduled minutes after she paid the £210 price. She emailed a photo of her provisional license number and was given a reference code that allowed her to update the test reservation with her own information.
Other students are said to have paid between £235 and £186. In January, it was revealed that driving teacher Steve Cogan, of Shepherd’s Bush, west London, was charging £212 to help students overcome London’s six-month waiting times.
Despite the centers being booked up for months on the official system, he claimed to have 30 ‘February dates’ at 10 different driving test centers and boasted that he could obtain test slots as soon as three days away on Facebook marketplace.
A man named Alex, meanwhile, used Facebook to boast about his’short-notice driving exam company.’
Alex stated that he could guarantee driving test reservations ‘within three weeks,’ and he invited instructors to join his company, stating that reselling the examinations to learners could earn them ‘upwards of £400-£600 per week.’
The DVSA, which has denounced third-party cancellation checking services, offers driving tests on its website and encourages students to check the site for cancellations on a frequent basis.
Some businesses, on the other hand, have installed software that constantly refreshes and monitors the DVSA’s booking site for cancellations.
The program makes use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to avoid getting caught and blacklisted, and it allows companies to take advantage of cancelled driving exams considerably more quickly than trainees can.
These companies, it appears, then offer the spots to desperate students at a much higher price.
‘This software… [is] like pushing the search button,’ one firm told the BBC when contacted by the BBC. It just automates your button presses or clicks.’
These businesses appear to advertise their services most frequently on Facebook and Facebook Marketplace, but others have their own websites with strong slogans guaranteeing learners their license’months early.’
Learner drivers, according to the BBC, are unable to change their test dates without canceling their reservation.
Driving schools, on the other hand, have access to a separate section of the DVSA booking website that allows them to book as many lessons as they require.
This will allow them to schedule tests for multiple students while utilizing the same phone number and email address.
However, with no official documentation necessary and a simple sign-up process, the system appears to be vulnerable to exploitation.
On the driving school account, you can set up alerts for when tests are available and book numerous tests. You can even switch candidates’ tests.
This would allow instructors to buy and sell tests without the knowledge of the provisional license holder.