Driving tests cancellations having 'huge impact'
Katie SmithDriving instructors and learners across north-east England and Cumbria say too many tests are being cancelled just days, or even hours, before they are due to take place.
Katie Smith, who teaches in Northumberland and has had several clients affected, is calling on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to recruit more examiners and reduce the waiting list.
She said of her devastated learners: "These are often young people in very rural areas who can barely afford driving lessons and desperately need a licence to work, it just has a massive impact."
The DVSA said occasions when it had to cancel tests were rare and it always rebooked the learner's test for the next available appointment.
Smith's clients are mostly in rural towns like Allendale and Alston where public transport is limited.
"I've got kids who do pot washing to pay for lessons, then their tests are postponed and they have to find more money because they can't just not drive for a month or two," she said.
Ridley CraigOne of her clients, 17-year-old sheep farmer Ridley Craig from Bishop Auckland, had a test booked on 6 May.
He was taking a three-hour lesson the day before in preparation for it when he was notified it had been cancelled.
"We have two family farms and I work for someone else doing his sheep work, so I have to move between different places for work," he said.
"I was pretty upset and disappointed to be honest because I was excited to get passed and get on the road.
"A couple of my friends had their tests cancelled when they actually got to the driving test centre, it's not good enough."
Smith said Craig would have "flown through the test" and the expression on his face when he read the email was "heartbreaking".
"He's got work booked all over the country and now he's got no licence".
Linzi BowdenLinzi Bowden, from Workington in Cumbria, had her test on 18 December 2025 cancelled two days before.
The 46-year-old had waited five months for a place after taking lessons for more than a year.
"I was a young single mum so couldn't afford to learn before, but the buses around here aren't very good and I had another little girl.
"She's six now - and I wanted to do things with her."
Bowden had booked a day off work and had "really psyched herself up".
"I was gutted, absolutely gutted when I got the email," she said.
Although she did pass her rearranged test in January she thinks there should be a better back-up system with reserve examiners.
Craig Jones, a driving instructor in Blaydon, Gateshead, said he understand "life happens" but believes tests "should be honoured".
"In most businesses cover arrangements are made, but the DVSA doesn't seem to work that way," he said.
"The extra stress that is placed on our students is immense. I don't see how you can sell a test and then just cancel it."
A DVSA spokesperson said its aim was always to ensure driving tests go ahead as planned but "unfortunately, there are rare occasions when we have to cancel a driving test at short notice".
The statement added: "We've been working tirelessly to bring down the driving test waiting times and in the year 2025-6 conducted a record near two million driving tests."
