Two years to cut drive test waits

Eight-month delays amid touts and examiner recruitment crisis

- LUCY THORNTON

A TARGET to reduce average driving test waiting times to seven weeks will not be met for two more years.

Frustrated pupils have been waiting up to eight months for their tests.

And nearly one in three learners are paying slot touts up to £500 to book a test, a National Audit Office report said.

A firm in Scunthorpe, Lincs, thought to be one of the worst regions for delays, said its pupils have been unable to book the £62 test. One driving school, which did not wish to be named, said: "It's extremely frustrating. It's not very fair on them."

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has failed to appoint enough new examiners to increase test slots despite recruitment drives.