The Government has responded to calls for a crackdown on people who swap driving tests and re-sell booked appointment slots. Every week, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) makes more tests available but many are rapidly booked up by bots. Private companies then resell the test slots at inflated prices, says the Manchester Evening News.

In October 38 MPs signed a letter calling on the government to take “the strongest possible action” on the issue of re-selling tests.

The driving test costs £62 for a weekday slot or £75 for evenings and weekends, but the letter highlighted some third-party sellers are charging up to £500.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked what steps the Department for Transport (Dft) is taking to restrict practical driving test bookings to a candidate’s local area and prevent fraudulent activity on third-party platforms.

Describing the practice of test swapping as ‘unscrupulous’, Parliamentary-under-Secretary of State for Transport, Simon Lightwood, said: “The DVSA is working hard to reduce the average waiting times, using the responses gathered from its public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. The consultation closed on 23 July.”

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