My driving test has been cancelled eleven times

A TEENAGER has been unable to take her driving test for more than 18 months.

Poppy Evans, 19, has suffered 11 cancellations due to examiners falling ill and each time has had to reapply, often waiting weeks before securing another slot.

After struggling to get a test at any of the centres close to her home near Watlington, she even travelled to Winchester but that test was cancelled minutes after arriving in the car park.

Miss Evans, who has a blue VW Golf, has blamed the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency.

She said: “It all started as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and everyone was in the same situation so I couldn’t really complain.

“There was a massive backlog of tests due to the lockdowns and people just couldn’t book one.

“I was initially fine with the cancellations but I keep getting this bad luck and now I am getting really
frustrated.

“I had to cancel one of the tests myself because I had covid but then I was supposed to have one in February but Storm Eunice happened so that was also cancelled.” Miss Evans first began booking tests in Reading, Oxford or Newbury but decided to go further afield in the hope of more luck.

She said: “After I couldn’t get a test at the places near me I booked one in Winchester.

“It took us two hours to get all the way down there so we left at about 5.30am to make sure we were there by 8am.

“When we parked up, an instructor came out of the building and said that they were sorry but they had to cancel it due to illness.

“I didn’t even receive a text to tell me that it wouldn’t be going ahead.

“I asked the guy if I would now be going to the back of the queue for a test and he said ‘no, no, no’ but as I was driving home I got a text to say my next test would be weeks later in June.”

Miss Evans passed her theory test in September 2020 and will have to take it again if she doesn’t pass her practical test after the two-year time limit. She said: “I do feel that the DVSA should be looking at my past history and see all my test cancellations but I keep getting put to the back of the queue. I feel I should be put first.

“I know lots of people have had problems with the DVSA in terms of cancellations but nobody seems to have had it as bad as I have.

“I have had to wait months and months to take a test and each time I can’t take a test I have had to wait longer — it is just so unfair.”

Miss Evans, who has been helping out her mother Lou Jackson, who runs the Highwayman pub in Exlade Street, near Checkendon, says that not being able to take her driving test is holding her back.

She said: “I am nearly 20 and I can’t work because I can’t get anywhere. Where I live is quite a rural area and there are no trains or buses.

“When I studied travel, tourism and business at The Henley College my dad had to pay for a taxi, which costs £30 there and back, for a year.

“Once I pass my test I want to get another job. I just want to get out there rather than having to rely on friends or taxis.” Miss Evans, whose car was bought by her father Richard Evans as a gift two years ago, has held a tractor licence since she was 16.

She said: “My aunt and uncle run Blue Tin Produce in Ipsden and they have lots of farming vehicles there and it has been really good to drive them. I have driven the tractor on the roads and I have good awareness. Tractors are quite big but you still need to do the right things like looking ahead and having good awareness.

“I’ve stopped taking driving lessons because I don’t see much point in having them now and I am really confident I will pass first time.”

Loveday Ryder, chief executive of the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency, said: “The pandemic has led to a high demand for driving tests and we are doing all we can to provide more tests so we can get our services back to normal as soon as possible.

“Candidates who unfortunately have had their tests cancelled are offered the first available test in their area.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience caused as a result of the current high demand for tests.”