Driving Forward - Road to Access

Learning to drive is more than just a rite of passage - it is a vital life skill. For many young people, a driving licence is the road to economic freedom, education, and independence.

But after years of Conservative mismanagement and continued inaction under Labour, the road to independence has become a dead end.

Average waiting times for driving tests have spiralled to over 20 weeks, with some learners waiting half a year just for a slot. This scarcity of test slots has enabled bots and resellers to snap up bookings and sell them back to desperate learners at inflated prices.

Combined with soaring average annual insurance premiums of over £2,000 and lesson costs exceeding £1,500, we are facing a crisis where too many are being prevented from learning to drive because of their income or where they live.

Today, Liberal Democrat members passed a new plan to clear the backlogs, end the rip-offs, and get the next generation moving:

• Slash the Test Backlog: Provide urgent investment to the DVSA to recruit and retain more examiners and expand test centre capacity in underserved and rural areas.
   
• Launch a ‘Young Drivers Support Fund’: Establish a national bursary scheme to subsidise lessons and test fees for low-income and disabled learners.
   
• Ban the Booking Bots: Implement identity-linked bookings and anti-bot protections to stop third-party touts from exploiting learners.
   
• Fix the Insurance Rip-off: Launch a formal review into car insurance for under-25s to improve pricing transparency and limit unfair age-based price hikes.
   
• Modernise Training: Update the driving test to ensure learners gain real-world experience in night-time driving, motorways, and adverse weather.

By helping young people get to work and study we are breaking down the barriers to opportunity.

For too many, the nature of rural geography, or the lack of safe cycling and walking routes or reliable public transport, means being able to drive a car is a necessity, not a luxury. It’s also a requirement for many jobs. We will continue to champion better active travel and public transport, but we cannot allow a broken testing system and predatory pricing to stall the lives of young people.