Labour has come under intense scrutiny in the House of Lords today over its handling of the driving test backlog crisis, which has left motorists waiting months for tests.
The meeting saw opposition peers accuse Labour ministers of failing to deliver on promises to reduce waiting times for drivers.
During a heated exchange, Conservative peer Lord Young of Cookham challenged Transport Minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill over the Government's broken commitment to cut waiting times from 21 weeks to seven weeks by December this year.
The minister admitted that the target had now been pushed back to next summer, while defending the Government's record by citing the recruitment of 170 new driving examiners and a new consultation launched on May 28 to tackle booking system abuse.
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The House of Lords heard comments from peers about the delays to driving tests impacting drivers across the UK
PA/GETTYThe confrontation highlighted growing frustration over a situation that has left learner drivers facing unprecedented delays and exploitation in a bid to book crucial driving tests.
Young pressed the Transport Minister on the Government's failure to meet its targets, stating: "The noble Lord, the minister, may recall our earlier exchange on this subject, when this is what he said, the real answer is to reduce the length of time it takes.
“To get a test currently in England, it's nearly 21 weeks. The Government have a target to reduce that to seven weeks by the end of December this year."
He noted that since their previous discussion, waiting times had actually increased, and the December deadline had slipped to summer next year.
The Conservative peer also revealed that more than 60 driving test centres around London recently had no available slots at all, describing the situation as "chaos".
Hendy defended the Government's actions, arguing that Labour had inherited a backlog of 532,782 car practical driving tests booked as of July 2024.
"This Government has done several things, and the consultation that I referred to previously launched a few days ago, is about putting the stock, putting a stop to the exploitation of learner drivers. The previous Government could have done more, but this one is doing it now," he said.
The minister outlined recruitment efforts, stating that 287 recruits had started training courses since July 2024, with 170 completing successfully, 43 currently in training, and a further 178 in the pipeline.
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The Transport Minister came under fire for failing to meet its targets to cut waiting times to seven weeks
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He acknowledged the challenge posed by changing behaviours, noting that people were now booking tests as soon as they obtained provisional licences due to the lengthy waits.
But former Transport Secretary Lord Harper challenged the minister's claims, pointing out that the Conservative Government had reduced the backlog from a peak of 20 weeks to 15 weeks before leaving office.
"Since then it's got worse, not better," Harper said, adding that the previous Government had implemented "a comprehensive plan with a number of steps" that were "remarkably similar" to Labour's current approach.
Hendy did admit to noticing the "modest change" in test numbers between 2023 and 2024, with bookings falling from 548,000 to 532,000, but insisted the current consultation was new and resulted from a call for evidence in December that received 27,000 responses.
Thousands of learner motorists have been forced to wait for months to book a driving testPACross-party concerns emerged about the exploitation of learner drivers through bot-driven booking systems, with Young describing it as "a racket ripping off learner drivers" where tests booked at £62 were being resold for £200 or more.
"This is not selling tickets for Glastonbury, this is a Government service for people who need to drive to get to work," he said, demanding immediate action to stop the practice.
Liberal Democrat Baroness Pidgeon suggested using AI to detect and block bot abuse through real-time monitoring of booking patterns.
The consultation on the driving test improvements will close on July 23, with drivers urged to share their views ahead of the final day.
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