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  "path": "/2026/06/13/hundreds-dodgy-driving-tests-scrapped-major-new-rule-change-2-28760258/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-13T09:52:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
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    "Crime News",
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    "Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency",
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  "textContent": "The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said it blocked 450 tests after detecting breaches to its regulations (Picture: Shutterstock)\n\n**Hundreds of ‘dodgy’ driving test bookings were scrapped this week after rules were tightened to clamp down on touts making money by booking and reselling slots.**\n\nThe Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said it blocked 450 tests after detecting breaches to its regulations.\n\nNew rules mean it is easier to detect patterns of misuse, such as when a single payment card is used to purchase multiple tests for different learners, it added.\n\nThe agency wanted to make it harder for people using automated programmes – known as bots – to quickly book test slots as soon as they became available and resell them for profit.\n\nTests have a standard fee of £62, but a National Audit Office report published in December last year found learners were paying up to £500 to book a slot on the black market.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nLearners affected by the rule change have been issued refunds.\n\nLearners are being charged up to £500 for a test normally costing around £62 by black market touts who book up swathes of slots (Picture: Shutterstock)\n\nNew measures introduced on Tuesday means the location of a test can now only be moved to one of the three centres nearest the initial booking.\n\nThis is aimed at reducing incidents of people booking a test regardless of its location, with no intention of using the slot.\n\nA ban on driving instructors booking tests came into force on May 12, meaning tests can now only be booked and managed by learners.\n\nMore than 4,000 learners have been banned from making online bookings since then, as part of a crackdown on abuse of the system.\n\nThe DVSA also said its work has led to 17 test reselling apps being removed from major app stores.\n\nNew measures introduced on Tuesday means the location of a test can now only be moved to one of the three centres nearest the initial booking (Picture: Shutterstock)\n\nRoads minister Simon Lightwood said: ‘Learners should be focusing on getting test-ready, not fighting an unfair booking system or paying over the odds to third-party touts.\n\n‘That’s why DVSA’s action to cancel dodgy tests is so important.\n\n‘By cancelling tests booked in breach of the rules and suspending access for those attempting to misuse the system, DVSA is sending a clear message that attempts to exploit learner drivers and profit from driving test appointments will not be tolerated.’\n\nDVSA chief executive Beverley Warmington said: ‘We promised to make the driving test booking system fairer, and we have kept that promise.\n\n‘These reforms were about making sure that driving tests go to genuine learners, not to those who profit from exploiting them.\n\n‘Today’s action demonstrates that we have the tools and the determination to enforce the new rules.\n\n‘We will keep monitoring, keep acting, and keep the pressure on anyone who tries to circumvent the system.’\n\nMisuse of the system has been given as a major cause of the backlog of driving tests.\n\nThe DVSA said the average waiting time to book a test last month was nearly 22 weeks, compared with about five weeks in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nIt added it has delivered more than 240,000 additional tests between June last year and May 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Hundreds of ‘dodgy’ driving tests scrapped after major new rule change"
}