Driving test tourism: A learner driver in London reveals the backlog of tests is so huge she has booked one 260 miles away in CORNWALL and is turning the trip there into a mini vacation

The learner said she had been trying to get a test date in London for weeks. author-section byline-plain">By Ted Thornhill, Mailonline Travel Editor
Posted: 12:18 BST, 10 Aug 2023 | Updated: 4:19 PM BST, 10 August 2023

A learner driver who lives in London has revealed how she ended up booking a 260 mile driving test in Bodmin, Cornwall - due to the huge backlog in the capital.
The learner said she had been trying to get a test date in London for weeks, but every times she tried to book one on the DVSA [Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency] website, about 15 times, there were often "thousands" of people ahead of her in the queue.< /p>
Fed up with the "long and deeply frustrating" process, she opted to book a test in Bodmin and visit relatives in Exeter on the journey to the south - driving test tourism, it seems.
Speaking anonymously to MailOnline, she said: 'I've been trying since mid -July to get a test date in London - anywhere in London - by logging into the test site when it opens at 6am.
'One of the days when I logged on at 6am, there were over 7,000 people ahead of me in the queue. Another day there were over 5,000 people in front of me.

Travel Aug 11, 2023 0 43 Add to Reading List

Driving test tourism: A learner driver in London reveals the backlog of tests is so huge she has booked one 260 miles away in CORNWALL and is turning the trip there into a mini vacation

The learner said she had been trying to get a test date in London for weeks. author-section byline-plain">By Ted Thornhill, Mailonline Travel Editor

Posted: 12:18 BST, 10 Aug 2023 | Updated: 4:19 PM BST, 10 August 2023

A learner driver who lives in London has revealed how she ended up booking a 260 mile driving test in Bodmin, Cornwall - due to the huge backlog in the capital.

The learner said she had been trying to get a test date in London for weeks, but every times she tried to book one on the DVSA [Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency] website, about 15 times, there were often "thousands" of people ahead of her in the queue.< /p>

Fed up with the "long and deeply frustrating" process, she opted to book a test in Bodmin and visit relatives in Exeter on the journey to the south - driving test tourism, it seems.

Speaking anonymously to MailOnline, she said: 'I've been trying since mid -July to get a test date in London - anywhere in London - by logging into the test site when it opens at 6am.

'One of the days when I logged on at 6am, there were over 7,000 people ahead of me in the queue. Another day there were over 5,000 people in front of me.