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08 Sep Survey of LGV / PSV licence acquisition vocational training schools – Issues: DVSA test availability, short-notice cancellations, lead-time for resits.

Posted at 16:00h in HGV drivers shortage, News by

Summary Report – August 2025

 

Background

 

Logistics Skills Network (LSN) represents some 70% of all LGV training conducted in Great Britain. Since before the 2020 / 21 pandemic there was a shortage of vocational tests which hampered growth of training schools and the ability to service the demand for new commercial drivers for the freight and passenger transport sectors.
RHA and Logistics UK have recently reported a LGV driver shortage of 200,000 over the next 5 years and it is essential for the UK economy to have a sustainable network of vocational training schools with sufficient DVSA examiners to meet this demand.

In April 2025 LSN conducted a survey of LGV training schools and reported that 22% of LGV training schools were content with their allocation of DVSA tests. This cohort of training schools accounted for less than 15% of overall demand within the survey. The remaining 78% of training schools accounting for 85% of LGV driver training reported continuous weekly shortages of tests. This shortage severely affects business viability of training schools and impacts on customer satisfaction levels of candidates and the logistics industry. During the period to April 2025 the lack of DVSA examiners was so acute one training school, based near Swansea, ceased operation.
Purpose of this Survey

LSN members continued to report an on-going lack of DVSA tests during May – August 2025, leading to at least one other training school based in Hull closing their business. This survey was conducted to gauge the severity of the lack of DVSA tests, what if any improvements have been made since April 2025 and gain an insight into some of the issues affecting the ability of LGV training schools to operate effectively.

Summary Report

 

There were 40 respondents of this survey ranging from the largest vocational training school to many smaller providers who require as little as 5 tests per week thus providing a balanced view. The survey covered Great Britain with respondents based in the central belt of Scotland, Wales, and England from St Austell to Norwich, London, the Midlands, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire, Cumbria and the north-east. The group of respondents’ accounts for c.75% of all LGV driver training conducted in GB.

  • Lack of DVSA tests – 32 (80%) of respondents reported a lack of DVSA tests compared to their weekly demand, with a worrying 18 (45%) obtaining 50% or less than their required allocation. A further 14 (35%) were allocated DVSA tests of 50% to 90% of their requirement. See table 1 below.

 

Some of the issues reported include:

    • Examiners have retired and not been replaced
    • Illness of examiners, with no additional cover or flexibility
    • Examiner granted 6-weeks continuous holiday without any one to cover

 

Acute issues have been reported in the following locations:

    • Atherton
    • Bredbury
    • Bristol
    • Chelmsford
    • Enfield
    • Exeter
    • Featherston
    • Hull
    • Ipswich
    • Kirkham
    • Leighton Buzzard
    • Norwich
    • Poole
    • Southampton
    • Swindon
    • Walton
    • Watnall
    • West Thurrock
    • Worthing
    • Yeading

 

  • Customer owned sites
    8 (20%) of LGV training schools were satisfied with their allocation of DVSA tests. It is interesting to note that the majority (7) of these operate customer sites. These locations include Carlisle, Sunderland, Teesside, Lancaster, Oldbury, Hinckley and Northampton. One other training school was content with test allocations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne at a DVSA test centre. As reported in April 2025, customer sites are badly impacted when cancellations occur as this often leads to 4 tests / day being lost with little opportunity to recover. Other issues reported include one customer site where the DVSA examiner only works school-term time, with no cover for school holidays.

 

  • DVSA short-notice cancelled tests – as reported in April from 49 respondents an average of 22 tests per week were being cancelled representing a 3.5% cancellation rate. This continues to be an issue with one respondent having to deal with almost 20 DVSA test cancellations in June-July.Short-notice cancellations cause a major on-cost not only to the vocational training provider but also to the candidate and the employer. This is estimated to be more than £1m / year. These issues affect the reputation of the vocational training sector, and not necessarily DVSA.

 

  • Resits booking time – the effect of the lack of DVSA examiners impacts candidates even more so when tests are cancelled at short-notice. The long lead time required to re-book a test means that a candidate needs additional re-training at additional cost, often borne by the training school. A system to fast-track new tests for these candidates would be helpful.

 

  • Other issues – some of these were mentioned in LSN’s April 2025 report although we are still waiting a clear response from DVSA. These include:
    • Trainer Booking system – not fit for purposes; IT issues which often crash on opening day and then require to re-enter by which time tests are lost; when block booking tests need to open each individual booking to confirm; system crashes with error message.
    • Mod 4 examiner applications – training schools have asked for more training dates, but lack of information from DVSA.

 

LSN welcomes the opportunity to engage and work collaboratively with DVSA, on behalf of its members and the wider vocational training sector, to better serve the needs of freight and passenger transport sectors.