Extremely long waiting lists for driving lessons nationally?

[genichiro_ashina]

A family member has been trying to get driving lessons, however all the reputable schools and instructors they've contacted have said there is a waiting list of between 6-12 months for starting lessons due to unprecedented demand. One firm actually wanted a deposit just to join their waiting list, which astounds me. This is in North West England. I am curious, is the aforementioned unprecedented demand for lessons currently prevalent nationwide? How is the situation in areas that have excellent public transport links available, such as in and around London and the South East? I would have thought that the cost of living crisis (along with soaring fuel and used car prices) might have limited the amount of people wanting to start driving, but seemingly it hasn't.

[vonhosen]

There's a back log generally & there is also a consultation about increasing the minimum wait time between rebooking tests, to a 28 days wait, if you fail a test.

[Geffg]

I’ve found this aswell in Liverpool. My daughter is 17 in October and it took a few phone calls to get her one sorted. A few were saying all booked and long waiting lists.

[anonymous-user]

Covid-19 backlog - overall demand for driving is gradually trending down but there’s all the pent up demand from the last few years to get through before normality returns.

[w1bbles]

Scotland - Perthshire here. No backlog and and my 17 year old twins have had lessons this week booked a fortnight ago.

[Griff74]

My brother is having the same issue with my nephew in North Wales (just over the border from Chester), driving instructor firm he booked with months ago keeps pushing back the dates for when my nephew can have a lesson due to being so busy and having a lot of instructorsbeing off ill(a lot of COVID related stuff). Luckily my nephew has a car (a lovely 62 plate Polo Match) so his dad, mum and even myself can take him out, he's learning quickly and now my brother is considering just trying to find somewhere to give him a weeks intensive course and book a test for him over the summer holidays, if he can find someone of course.

[dontlookdown]

It is pretty hard to get an instructor at present. My daughter managed to get in with a local guy last year, shortly after he opened up again. We were lucky. When she passed about a month ago about half a dozen of her friends were jockeying to take over 'her slot with the instructor;)

[Brooksay]

I noticed a rather large increase of learners on the road after the first lockdown. Just put it down to people being scared of using public transport.

[swisstoni]

I’m in the fetid, overpopulated, south east and we had to wait 2-3 months to get lessons for my son.
And I had to work at it, because most instructors don’t even want to look that far ahead, understandably.

[Mr Penguin]

Yep, fewer instructors and a year or two of people who became 17 but had to wait to learn to drive and now all want lessons at the same time.