UK Driving News This Week: July Test Data, Booking Lockouts and a Ghost Broking Warning (24 August 2026)

A quiet August week on paper turned out to be a busy one for the driving test system. The DVSA published its July figures, answered long-running questions about learners locked out of the booking service, and had its trainer fee income laid bare by a freedom of information request. Elsewhere, the DVLA expanded its online medical service and insurers warned young drivers about fake policies.

July test figures: pass rate up, waits still stubborn

The DVSA published its latest monthly car test data on 19 August 2026, covering July. Examiners conducted 197,295 tests in Great Britain and 102,862 candidates passed, a pass rate of 52.1%. That is up from around 50% at the start of the year and is the clearest sign of movement in any of the headline numbers.

Waiting times were less encouraging. The median gap between booking and sitting a test rose to 11.14 weeks, up from a low of about 9 weeks in March 2026. The older availability measure, which tracks how far ahead you must look to find a centre with more than 10% of slots free, sat at 20.2 weeks. The agency also ran 32,110 overtime slots during the month, a reminder of how much current throughput depends on examiners working beyond normal hours.

DIA chief executive Carly Brookfield pushed back on the idea that long waits act as a useful brake on learners rushing to test, noting the industry has seen a 53% pass rate alongside a 13 week wait in the past. A slower system is not automatically a safer one.

DVSA explains why learners get locked out of the booking service

Plenty of learners have hit a wall trying to book or move a test. Responding to DIA questions on 19 August 2026, the DVSA drew a firm line between two situations that often get confused. The first is automated bot protection: if the booking service reads your activity as bot-like, you can be shown an error message and temporarily blocked. That is not a suspension, and GOV.UK has carried guidance on it since 2023. The second is a genuine suspension of online booking access, applied where the agency believes the terms have been breached. The DVSA will not publish the thresholds it uses, on the grounds that doing so would help the people it is trying to stop.

The practical change is in how you challenge a suspension. Between 12 May and 21 June 2026 the review was handled by phone; since 22 June 2026 customers submit evidence through an online review, and the agency aims to decide within 10 working days. Worth knowing before a pupil panics and rebooks under a different email address, which is exactly the behaviour that triggers a suspension.

Instructors paid the DVSA £10.2m last year

The DIA asked, under freedom of information, how much revenue the DVSA draws from licensed trainers. The answer landed this week: fee income from ADIs and PDIs rose from £7,667,808 in 2021/22 to £10,153,445 in 2025/26, up roughly a third in five years.

The growth sits in qualification rather than renewal. ADI Part 1 income nearly doubled, Parts 2 and 3 rose from £1.85m to £3.13m and trainee licence issue climbed from £595,811 to £1,019,254, while registration fees stayed flat at around £3.3m. The money is coming disproportionately from people trying to enter the profession, at exactly the point when Part 2 and Part 3 slots are hardest to come by.

Trained examiners still waiting for a start date

A related thread from the DIA's special report, published on 13 August 2026, concerns examiner recruitment. The association says applicants have been told training would not begin for six months after they passed their assessments, and that candidates who completed training then waited more than four months for deployment with no start date offered. Some are reportedly looking at other jobs. The DIA raised the lag with DVSA management last month and says directors acknowledged it, but fresh reports suggest it continues. Examiner headcount is the biggest single lever on waiting times, so this is the story to watch through the autumn.

Ghost broking warning as fake policies target 18 to 24s

Research from Allianz UK, reported on 17 August 2026, found a 25% rise in 18 to 24 year olds caught up in ghost broking when comparing the first quarters of 2025 and 2026. Ghost brokers pose as legitimate insurers or intermediaries, usually via Instagram or WhatsApp, and sell policies that are fake, already cancelled, or obtained using false details. The driver believes they are covered. They are not.

Allianz says it identifies around 13,000 falsified or manipulated policies a year, with detections involving fraud, misrepresentation or identity theft up 33% between 2022 and 2025. Almost two thirds of the 17 to 25 year olds surveyed had seen suspiciously cheap insurance adverts on social media, and 84% of parents had never heard of ghost broking. Only 39% knew an uninsured car could be seized. Driving uninsured carries six penalty points, and under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act six points within two years of passing costs you the licence.

DVLA medical notifications go online

On 17 August 2026 the DVLA confirmed that car and motorcycle licence holders can report a wider range of medical conditions online, with digital applications processed up to 10 days faster than paper forms. Around 1,600 conditions are covered by the GOV.UK checker and more than 60,000 drivers have used the service. Applicants can track progress online, and those with multiple conditions can renew digitally for the first time. Later in 2026 it will extend to first-time provisional applicants, which matters for instructors: a provisional stuck behind a medical query can stall a pupil before lessons start.

What this week means for you

If you are learning, the July figures cut both ways. A 52.1% pass rate means the odds at the roadside are better than in January, but an 11.14 week median wait means the cost of failing is measured in months. Book a test when your instructor says the standard is there, not as a motivational deadline. Knowing which competencies still wobble is the difference between a booked test and a ready one, and that is what Clutch is built to show you between lessons. One housekeeping point too: read the booking service terms first, because the quickest route to a suspension is sharing a login or using an app that promises cancellations.

Instructors get something concrete from the FOI figures for conversations about value for money, particularly when training PDIs who cannot get a Part 2 or Part 3 slot. The examiner deployment lag is the other one to track, since it shapes how far you will be driving pupils to test this autumn. Our instructor tools keep progress evidence in one place, so you can spot who is test-ready when a slot appears.

Frequently asked questions

What is the current driving test waiting time?

Based on DVSA data for July 2026, published on 19 August 2026, the median wait between booking and taking a car test in Great Britain was 11.14 weeks, and the separate availability measure stood at 20.2 weeks. Your local centre may sit well above or below both.

Why can I not access the driving test booking service?

There are two causes. Automated security measures can temporarily block you if the system reads your activity as bot-like, which usually clears by following the GOV.UK guidance on access problems. Separately, the DVSA can suspend your online booking access if it believes the terms have been breached, and it will email you if so. Since 22 June 2026 you can submit evidence through an online review, with a target response of 10 working days.

How do I spot a ghost broking insurance scam?

Treat any policy advertised through social media or messaging apps with suspicion, especially where the price sits far below every comparison quote and the seller wants a bank transfer. Buy from an insurer or broker you can verify, and check your registration appears on the Motor Insurance Database.

Do I need to tell the DVLA about a medical condition before my test?

If you have a notifiable condition, yes, and well before test day. GOV.UK lists around 1,600 conditions and explains which need reporting. Since 17 August 2026 you can notify a wider range of them online, which the DVLA says is up to 10 days quicker than posting a form.

Ready to turn practice into progress? Try Clutch and see exactly where you stand against the DVSA standards before you book.