Waiting times for driving tests have dropped below 20 weeks for the first time since November 2024, according to official figures.
But learner drivers in September still had to wait an average of 19.7 weeks, or around five months, for a practical test.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has been trying to cut waiting times and clear a backlog which began during the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Commenting on the agency’s progress, one driving instructor told the : “I don’t think this is anything to boast about.”
The DVSA initially had hoped to reduce the average waiting time to seven weeks by the end of last year.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander pushed the target back to summer 2026, but subsequently admitted even that would not be possible – with waits not expected to fall to seven weeks until next autumn.
The DVSA conducted 191,682 practical driving tests in September, with more than half of those passing.
Learner drivers have repeatedly told the how a lack of access to driving tests has limited their freedom, education and job prospects.
Until earlier this year, many learner drivers chose to pay inflated prices to access driving tests being resold by third party providers who’d used automated programmes, or bots, to block book tests before learners could access them.
But a number of changes were made to the test booking system earlier this year by the DVSA to stop the system being exploited. Now, only the learner driver is able to book their driving test.