'How am I meant to plan anything?' The frustration of a seven-month driving test backlog

Megan Hart hoped learning to drive would make life easier before the arrival of her new baby.

Instead, the 38-year-old has found herself caught in one of Scotland's longest driving test backlogs, with no guarantee she will be offered a practical test before her due date in April.

"It's going to become impossible," she said.

Megan lives in Arbroath where waiting times for tests reached almost seven months in October, making it the second-longest wait in the UK.

She says passing her test is not just about convenience.

Her eldest son has epilepsy and regularly attends medical appointments, while her partner often works away from home.

Without a driving licence, she says getting her family where they need to be can be a struggle, especially with poor public transport links for families living outside Scotland's cities.

"It's not fair to us," she says.

"Transport here is awful, especially with the kids."

"How am I meant to plan anything?"

Megan first looked for a driving test in August and even bought a car so she could get extra practice, alongside her instructor-led lessons.

As she was applying for a test at a remote test centre, she paid the test fee and was placed on the DVSA's "on hold" system, which is used to allocate test dates when none are immediately available to book.

The uncertainty is also adding to the financial pressure, Megan says.

She continues to pay for lessons despite having no indication of when she might be able to take her test - and worries about the prospect of having to wait months more if she does not pass first time.

"I wouldn't even like to add up how much I've spent, to be honest," she said.

The scale of the backlog in Arbroath has grown significantly in recent years.

In October 2026, DVSA figures showed the median wait between booking and taking a practical driving test had reached 27.4 weeks, the second-longest in the UK behind Callander's 31.5 weeks.

By contrast, learners in Inverness faced waits of just 3.9 weeks.

The Arbroath figures have reduced slightly from the September peak of 29.9 weeks, which was close to the 30.7-week high recorded during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

Waiting times have remained above 20 weeks for much of the past two years.

Driving instructors say the official figures can understate the problem because they do not always account for the time learners spend waiting before they are even allocated a test date.

Learning to drive is already expensive, even before the cost of talking extra lessons.

The DVSA estimates most learners need about 45 hours of professional tuition before taking a test, costing more than £2,000 before test fees are added.

Long waits can push costs even higher as learners continue paying for lessons to stay test-ready.

For many learners, every additional week means more lesson fees, greater uncertainty and a longer wait for the opportunities that come with holding a driving licence.

Among them is 17-year-old Ruby, also from Arbroath, who has been unable to secure a test date despite joining the waiting list in June.

"A lot of my friends aren't wanting to do lessons because of how much it costs and how long the wait is," she said.

Ruby said being unable to secure a test was delaying the freedom and flexibility she had hoped driving would bring.

"I wouldn't have to rely on buses or my mum as much," she said.

Matt Smith, a driving instructor in Arbroath, said the delays were creating challenges for learners and instructors alike.

"This is the worst I've seen the tests for a long time," he said.

He said long waits force learners into difficult decisions about whether to continue paying for lessons, reduce the frequency of their tuition or stop altogether until a test becomes available.

Matt said this affected him as an instructor as he wasn't able to take on new pupils while his bookings were full.

"If I bring too many on I become bloated and then I can't accommodate all of the pupils I have," he said.

"A pupil who learns very, very quick will have to spend more money continuing to do lessons which will stop skill-fade from happening to keep them test-ready."

Matt said the published figures do not always reflect the true length of time learners wait for a test.

"They advertise tests about 24 to 25 weeks away, but that doesn't include the 10 to 12 weeks that pupils are waiting to be given a test date," he said.

He believes a shortage of examiners is at the heart of the problem.

"The demand is great and that is not going to reduce, so the supply of examiners needs to increase," he said.

"There are not enough examiners to match the demand of the pupils."

A DVSA spokesperson said the agency was working to improve test capacity but Arbroath's waiting times could fluctuate because it operated as an outstation of Dundee, using a "book-to-hold" system rather than having permanent examiners based there.

The DVSA said driving test waits remained high due to increased demand and changes in booking behaviour since the pandemic.

It added that examiner numbers were now at their highest level in recent years and that recruitment was continuing, including in Dundee.

According to the latest figures, driving test waiting times fell for the sixth consecutive month in October 2026.

The DVSA said it was making progress in reducing waits nationally and remained committed to ensuring learners could access tests when they need them.

"We know there's more to do and we won't stop until every learner can get a test slot when they need one, wherever they're learning to drive," they said.