Guidance

How to book and manage driving and riding tests for your pupils

Updated 22 December 2022

1. About the service

If you’re an instructor, trainer or training school, you can use the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) practical test business service to:

• book and manage driving and riding tests for your pupils
• manage your business with DVSA

Booking tests

You can:

• view all the available appointments without having to enter a pupil’s details
• book multiple tests at the same time, without having to pay for each individually
• set up favourite test centres, and then automatically check for tests becoming available at them and get notifications

You can book these types of driving tests:

• car
• motorcycle (module 1 and module 2)
• lorry and bus, including the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) part 3 (driving ability) and part 4 (practical demonstration) tests
• approved driving instructor (ADI) part 2 and part 3 tests

Tests you cannot book

You cannot use the service to book:

• tractor tests (category F), road roller tests (category G) and tracked vehicle tests (category H)
• a driving test to upgrade from an automatic to a manual car licence
• a driving test for some EU or Northern Ireland driving licence holders

You have to book these tests using the usual service to book a driving test.

There’s a different service to book and manage theory tests for your pupils.

Motorcycle manoeuvring area training slots

You can also book training slots at the motorcycle manoeuvring areas used for motorcycle module 1 tests.

Managing your business

You can use the service to:

• update your business’ details
• view and download business statements, including financial details
• add ADIs to your driving school or remove them from it (every business booking car tests must have at least one ADI assigned to it)
• add or change your availability for driving tests if you’re an ADI

There’s a different service to update your ADI registration to change your address or name.

2. Get started using the service

1. Register with DVSA so you can book driving tests for your pupils.

2. Sign in to the service to book and manage driving and riding tests for your pupils when you’ve been registered by DVSA. You will need to create a Government Gateway account if you do not already have one.

3. Accept the agreements to use the service.

4. Add a user account for each person from your business who needs to use the service.

Accept the agreements for using the service

You will need to accept the agreement for using the service.

You will also need to accept other agreements if you want to:

• book motorcycle, lorry or bus tests in advance without giving your pupil’s details
• book motorcycle manoeuvring areas for training

What you must do

You must:

• make it clear to your pupils if you charge (or have plans to charge) any administrative fees in addition to the usual driving test fee when you book their tests
• clearly show any administrative fees you do charge if you run a website that offers to book driving test appointments - the administrative fee must be shown on the opening page of any transaction

What you must not do

You must not:

• use any automated system or software to interact with this service
• have more than one account per business
• use candidate details for reserving tests without their permission
• misuse ADI numbers – the ADI must have provided their permission to be linked with your business
• use the service to book tests and sell them on for a profit
• have a candidate pass rate which is less than the national average (this only applies if you have at least 75 tests booked per calendar month)

It’s against the law to misuse data. The Information Commissioner has the power to issue fines for misusing data.

DVSA can stop you from using the service if you do not follow the agreements after you’ve accepted them.

Add more user accounts

Each person from your business who needs to use the service needs a separate user ID.

There are 2 types of users you can set up through your Government Gateway account:

• administrators - they have full access to all parts of the service
• standard users - they have more limited access, and cannot add payment cards

Administrators can access every service your business is registered to use on the Government Gateway - not just the DVSA practical test business service.

3. Make and manage bookings

To book a test, you need your pupil’s:

• name
• driving licence number
• email address

The service already knows your business’ email address, so you do not need to add it.

You’ll only be asked for their theory test pass certificate number if the service cannot automatically find a valid one.

Book tests without giving your pupil’s details

You can book some tests in advance without giving your pupil’s details. This is known as ‘trainer booking’.

You can only do this for these types of tests:

• motorcycle (module 1 and module 2)
• lorry and bus, including the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) tests

You must confirm the pupil’s details by 4pm at least one clear working day before the test. Working days do not include Sundays and public holidays.

Example

Confirm the pupil’s details by 4pm on Wednesday if the test is on Friday.

View your bookings

To view your bookings, select Test Bookings and then View Bookings. You can enter any relevant search criteria you want.

You can also search by application reference number from the homepage. To do this, enter an application reference number in the Search your bookings field on the right-hand side of the page and select Search bookings.

You can only view details of tests that have been booked using your business ID. You cannot see details of tests if the pupil booked it themselves or with another business.

Manage bookings

When you’ve found the test you want to manage, click on it to view or change it. You’ll then see the ‘Booking details’ screen.

For tests where your pupil has been named, you can:

• change the booking
• cancel the booking
• swap bookings
• update the pupil’s details

You can change an appointment up to 6 times. If you need to make more changes after that, you have to cancel the test and rebook it.

Managing ‘trainer booking’ tests

You can search by application reference number or by date if you need to find bookings to name.

Availability notifications

You can set up notifications for tests so the service tells you if appointments become available at times you want.

You cannot set up separate notifications to cover different parts of the same week at the same test centre and for the same type of test.

However, you can set up separate notifications for the same week if they’re for different test centres or types of test.

You have to check the service for notifications. There’s no guarantee the appointment will still be available when you read the notification, as someone else may have already booked it.

Licence entitlements

On rare occasions, you may see the following message when entering the details of a candidate.

You can’t book this test using the details given. Please contact DVSA.

Call DVSA using the fast track service. It may still be possible to book the test. However, DVSA needs to check your pupil’s entitlement to take the test, so it cannot be booked online.

4. Manage your business

You can see your financial and booking history for tests.

There are 2 types of statements:

• financial
• account audit history

Choose the type of statement you want and dates you want to see the information for. You can sort the financial statement by:

• application reference number
• transaction date
• payment method
• the user ID of who made the transaction
• the amount paid or the amount refunded

You can also download the information if you need to.

Reminders and alerts

Your reminders and alerts will appear when:

• a trainer booked test needs to be named
• a booking is approaching the last day to change or cancel
• you need to accept an agreement
• your pre-funded account is low
• you have bookings on hold
• you have set up an availability notification and a test has become available

The service will only remove reminders for the last date to change, cancel or name trainer booking tests once a day. The reminders may continue to show for the rest of the day even though you’ve dealt with them.

Add or remove ADIs from your business

Your business must have at least one ADI assigned to it if you book car driving tests.

You can add or remove ADIs to and from your driving school business as they join or leave your school.

You must not misuse ADI numbers. The ADI must have provided their permission to be linked with your business. The Information Commissioner has the power to issue fines for misusing data.

ADI availability for driving tests

You can set up your availability for car driving tests if you’re an ADI.

The service will show you if the appointment you’ve selected clashes with availability.

You can choose to ignore the message and continue to book the test if you want

Requests to DVSA

You can send 4 types of online requests in the DVSA practical test business service:

• general - for general enquires, but not to request test slots (the availability notification should be used instead)
• trainer booking additional slot
• become a vocational customer site - DVSA will contact you further to discuss next steps when you send this
• vocational customer site slot - you’ll only see this type of request if you’ve set up a vocational customer site which has been authorised by DVSA

You’ll normally get a response within 5 working days.

5. Help and terminology

Access

The service will work on most web browsers on most operating systems. You will need cookies and JavaScript enabled.

Do not use your browser’s back, forward, refresh or other buttons - only use the buttons in the service to navigate through it.

Length of session

You have 15 minutes to complete your booking once you’ve selected a test.

The time you’ve got left will be displayed throughout the booking process.

Test slots might not still be available if you do not complete the process in this time.

The service will sign you out if you’ve been inactive for 30 minutes.

Test status

On some screens, you’ll see the following terms:

• received
• current
• on hold - this means the test may have been cancelled by you or DVSA - you’re able to select the application to book or request a refund
• completed - this means the test has taken place and a pass or fail result issued
• cancelled - this means the slot has been cancelled and either given a new date or a refund
• not completed - this means that the test has not been completed for example, bad weather, vehicle not suitable for the test and so on - there’s an automated system process which will either rebook the test or put it on hold