There are three elements to this and I've put them in priority order:
- You had a practical driving test booked at the time of lock-down
- You had a theory test booked at the time of lock-down
- You were either about to start or were mid-way through training but weren't ready to pass your theory test
Firstly, if you had a practical test booked at the time we went into lock-down, then you will know by now that it was cancelled and rearranged by DVSA. The process used for this was the same process they use if they cancel for any other reasons, and as such the system re-booked your test automatically. Most of those I had booked at the start of lock-down were re-booked to take place in late June and early July. Test centers were initially closed by DVSA until June 20th.
Last week, the DVSA wrote to us to say that they were cancelling all of these re-arrangements completely for the time being and test centers remain closed.
There are no general refunds being made. The way it's going to work is that when the DVSA re-open the testing system, we will be invited to re-book you into a convenient slot. The re-booking system will reopen gradually in stages, with priority give to those that were closest to taking their test at the start of lock-down (so if you had a test booked in late March, you'll have the first shot at re-booking when compared to friends that may have had tests booked in April, or May).
As a booking agent, I will take care of all of this for my clients, but I will be speaking to them all about the practice they've been able to get through the lock-down and we'll make the decision together about when a good time would be to present for test before making a booking. Some people have been able to practice a lot with parents; some haven't done anything at all and everyone will have varying degrees of confidence about going in for a test.
In terms of timing, we have no idea really as to when this system will be opened up but it is one of those things that is obviously dependent on the R value staying nicely below 1.
The DVSA have also written to us to explain that they are concerned about a whole host of things that affect reopening. Some of these things include building issues such as the risk of Legionella and staffing issues with examiners being in various states of health and at various stages of life. It is anticipated that there will be a reduced capacity for testing when it resumes.
As far as PPE is concerned, I am happy to discuss what I am doing and you'll be pretty well up to speed on that from what you're reading in the news. Basically there'll be temperature checks for everyone, compulsory wearing of masks, good hand washing practice and sanitisers available in the car, a practice of cleaning the car's controls down before every new driver and plenty of fresh air.
Like many reading this, I consider these precautions to be common sense and with, at the time of writing, government estimates of infection rates in the country being in the region of 1 in 1700, I don't mind saying that the DVSA look pretty incompetent in appearing to be so confused and disorganised with regards to a plan to return to work. Whilst many ADI's are preparing to return to some form of service provision in early July, no testing is taking place until the DVSA decide to return to work, so watch this space.
If you had a theory test booked at the point of lock-down, the DVSA again cancelled this and you will have an e.mail telling you when you're new date is. I believe that the automatic re-booking system is managing this for us and that you'll have new dates allocated to you.
Theory test centers remain closed until at least the beginning of July at the moment and as with practical tests, the DVSA are remaining tight lipped about any plans they might be making to reopen them. My opinion is that they should be reopened immediately because a theory test center is one of the easiest public places you can go to in order to maintain social distancing - it was pretty much in place naturally anyway to prevent cheating!
Again, there is no news on what precautions will need to be put in place, but I see no reason why it should be different in many ways to a trip to your local supermarket with just a few additional measures to clean keyboards, use hand sanitisers etc.
Unlike the practical tests, it appears that you CAN still book a theory test if you want to take one. Worth remembering though, there may be a significant delay in being able to book a practical test if you pass your theory, because priority will be given firstly to all of those people who have had tests cancelled due to Coronavirus before the test booking system is opened up to the general public again.
If you were either at the start of the learning to drive journey or part way through it, then you are largely unaffected by these problems in the testing process.
I would advise you to continue to read up and practice for the theory test and where you can get practice at driving, do so. You should practice with somebody you live with acting as supervising driver (they need to have held a full licence for 3 years for the vehicle you're driving and be at least 21 years old). Strictly speaking, the practice of "just going for a drive" is still against government guidelines, but there's no reason why you can't drive to the park for a walk if you like or to the shop.
The biggest affect on this group of people is going to be the availability of Driving Instructors. The profession contains a lot of people who are of retirement age and health problems such as obesity and diabetes are rife within the cohort. As a result, it is expected that there will be a number of ADI's who leave the profession completely as restrictions are lifted and those that are left (I'm in this group) may often have availability problems caused by things like childcare. One interesting way in which this virus crisis has exposed us is that many industries are totally reliant on the assistance of grandparents for childcare reasons in order to earn a decent living with schools only being open for around half of what many modern working class people call "a working day". That isn't an attack on schools, it's a statement of fact and it'd be nice if "the new normal" re-balanced things a bit.
The long term affects of this Coronavirus will be felt in the economy for a long time to come, but the DVSA will recruit new staff to replace those that are forced to leave on health grounds, and people like me will continue to bring new Driving Instructors through our Driving Instructor Training programmes... eventually, normal service will be resumed but it's going to take a long time!
I'll provide further updates as I get them.
Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.
More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk
