How to change or cancel your Driving Test

If you change your mind…: Altering or cancelling your test

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The DSA are pretty lenient when it comes to changing test times and dates. After all, things crop up at the last minute, usually when there’s something important like your practical test around the corner.

You can change or cancel your test online, in much the same way that you booked it in the first place. Simply log onto the DirectGov website and follow the links. Make sure you have your driving licence number and your practical test booking reference with you.

You have until 3 working days before your test to change or cancel your booking without losing your fee. Because the DSA offer Saturday test slots, they class Saturdays as working days, which is nice of them. If you change or cancel your test before this deadline, it’s free of charge (or in the case of cancelling, you’ll get a full refund).

If, however, something crops up literally last minute and you have to cancel, you will lose your fee. It’s not ideal, but there’s a sense of fairness there – after all, it’s awkward for anyone having to change plans with no warning, and the DSA have a lot of different things to reorganise if you cancel on them.

Check you driving test

Should you have a mental block or, as is becoming increasingly common, complete memory failure, and you can’t for the life of you remember when your test is booked for, you can check your test date and time on the DirectGov booking website. Just give your name and licence number and they’ll give you all the details you need to know. It would be a good idea, at this point, to print them out. Several times. And stick them around the house.

The moral of the story is, then, to make sure you give the DSA as much notice as possible if you need to change or cancel your booking. That way you save yourself a fair chunk of money and everyone a lot of time and bother.