Book a driving test through us

We can now book you a driving test through our business link with the DVSA. We only require your driver’s licence number and the DVSA test fee of £62, plus an administration cost of £18 per booking. This booking does not guarantee a short-notice test. The fee is made payable via bank transfer. Please get in touch with us directly for this service.

It’s frustrating to wait weeks and weeks for a driving test, especially when you are ready to take it.

Thanks to our extensive network of driving instructors, we can get you a short-notice driving test date, usually within a week or, in some cases, within 24 hours.

Short Notice Driving Tests

To obtain a short-notice test through us, you must have already booked a test. Then supply us with this information. :

Full name and postal address
Contact details
Driving licence number
Theory test certificate number
Current test booking reference number
Current test date, time and test centre
or a photo of your provisional licence.

Within our extensive network of instructors, we can usually accommodate pupils who have booked a short-notice test. Contact us for more information.

The use of the driving school car for non-Streetwise Driving School pupils is £140 for manual or automatic. Non-Streetwise Driving School customers mean you would have to have taken a minimum of 10 lessons to qualify as a Streetwise Driving School pupil, or if your test is less than seven days after contacting us to inform us of your test.

Please see our terms and conditions for short-notice driving tests.

On Test Day

You will need to bring with you:

The green plastic photo licence. You don’t need the Theory Test Certificate
You must bring a valid passport for those with an old provisional driving licence.
If you forget your licence, your test will not go ahead, and you will forfeit the test fee and any other charges incurred, such as using the instructor’s car.
Glasses/Contact lenses, if worn, as you will be required to carry out an eye test.

Some changes with the driving tests

The driving test will change on Monday, 4th December 2017. The changes are designed to ensure new drivers have the skills to drive safely throughout their lifetimes.

All car driving tests from 4th December 2017 will follow the new format.

This includes if:

If a pupil failed a test before and retakes it on 4th December 2017
If a pupil’s test is cancelled or moved for any reason, and their new test date is from 4th December 2017
Learners can take motorway lessons, but drivers will need to be:
- accompanied by an approved driving instructor
- driving a car fitted with dual controls

Recent changes are:

1. Reducing the number of stops during the test from 4 to 3.

2. Lowering the frequency of emergency stop exercises from 1 in 3 tests to 1 in 7.

3. Adding flexibility to the independent driving segment (this can be following a sat nav, traffic signs or both) to run for the whole duration of the test.

Independent driving will increase to 40 minutes

The independent driving part of the test currently lasts around 20 minutes. It will be longer, lasting around 40 minutes.

Following directions from a sat nav

During the independent driving part of the test, most candidates will be asked to follow directions from a sat-nav. If they are unsure, they can ask the examiner to confirm where they’re going.

It won’t matter if they go the wrong way unless they make a mistake. One in five driving tests won’t use a satellite navigation system. Your pupil will need to follow traffic signs for around 40 minutes.

Reversing manoeuvres will be changed

We’ll ask your pupil to do one of these:

parallel park at the side of the road
park in a bay – either driving in and reversing out or reversing in and driving out (the examiner will tell them which)
Pull up on the right-hand side of the road, reverse for two car lengths and rejoin the traffic.

The manoeuvre can be done during the independent driving part of the test. The ‘reverse around a corner’ and ‘turn-in-the-road’ manoeuvres will no longer be tested, but you should still teach them. The slow control and accuracy skills will transfer to learning the revised manoeuvres.

Answering the ‘Show me’ question while driving

The examiner will ask the ‘show me’ question (where your pupil shows how they’d carry out a safety task) while your pupil is driving.

For example, they might ask your pupil to show how they’d wash the windscreen using the car controls and wipers. The ‘show me’ question can be asked during the independent driving part of the test. The ‘tell me’ question (where your pupil explains how they’d carry out a safety task) will still be asked at the start of the test before your pupil starts driving.

Pass mark, length of test, and cost not changing

The pass mark is staying the same. Pupils will pass if they commit no more than 15 driving faults, including no serious or dangerous faults.

The examiner will still assess the test similarly, and the same things will still count as faults. The overall time of the driving test will also remain the same: around 40 minutes.

The driving test cost will also stay the same.

Why the changes are being made

Road collisions are the biggest killer of young people. They account for over a quarter of all deaths of those aged between 15 and 19.

Most fatal collisions occur on rural or high-speed roads (excluding motorways). We want your pupils to spend more time driving on these roads with you and during the test. This will better prepare them for driving on their own. Changing the manoeuvres we test means we won’t need to spend a disproportionate amount of time on quieter side roads. The revised manoeuvres can be carried out more naturally during the test.

Using a satellite navigation system will also help us better test routes for different types of roads. We currently rely on areas with suitable traffic signs, often urban and built-up areas.