Driving Test: More than 140,000 people in queue to book online as website crashes after reopening

Only 35,675 appointments are available during the next six weeks

Learner drivers are battling to book their driving tests this morning with more than 140,000 waiting in a virtual queue.

On Friday 21 August, online bookings reopened for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak began but following "unprecedented demand", the website crashed and the service had to be taken offline for essential maintenance.

On Wednesday, the driving test booking service reopened once more and this time the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) introduced a queueing system.

When The Independent tried to access the DVSA website this morning, it was placed in a queue with 145,199 people ahead and many people have complained on social media that the website crashed again shortly after it reopened at 8am.

“Absolutely ridiculous service @DVSAgovuk wasted 12 hours of my time trying to book a driving test on Friday and Saturday, then closing the website until today for 'essential maintenance' yet all the website still does is crash!” one person wrote on Twitter.

Another person quipped: “I hope I don’t crash as much as this website is when I do my test.”

A third person added: “Waited two and half hours in a queue to try and book a driving test and the @DVSAgovuk yet again have ballsed it up. Eventually got on the website and got a test centre and time selected and now I'm blocked from the website.”

The DVSA issued an apology to those who were struggling to get online, writing on Twitter just after 8am on Wednesday: “Driving test booking service update. For those who have experienced a problem with getting into the booking system, please try again.

“You should now be able to get into the booking system queue. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

The DVSA has said it is only releasing limited driving slots with just 35,675 appointments available during the next six weeks.

It explained this is so people who had a test cancelled because of coronavirus and critical workers who applied for an emergency driving test can be given priority and so that social distancing measures can be adhered to.

The government suspended driving tests in March as the UK entered a nationwide lockdown.

The DVSA was scheduled to release more booking slots on 24 August, but pushed the next batch back until 26 August due to “unprecedented demand”.

Those who had their driving tests booked before lockdown measures were introduced were allowed to rebook from 25 July to help with the backlog and theory tests resumed on 4 July.

The Independent has contacted the DVSA for comment.