The waiting times for a driving test have never recovered from impact of the Covid lockdowns in 2020. Before March 2020, the waiting times were about 5 weeks. The earliest test dates are currently over 5 months (24 weeks) away. Although it is possible to obtain a short notice test, due to someone else cancelling their test, these are usually snapped up very quickly, often by bots used by driving test cancellation services. These companies use bots to continuously seek driving tests at short notice (once you have already booked a test) and inform you of any through an App. If you are considering using such a service, please avoid the companies that charge an extortionate rate. There are a number of different Apps/websites offering such a service. You should not expect to pay much more than £20. Driving Test Genie claim to have the cheapest service, charging £17.99 (correct as of September 2024) but, by using this link, a £3 discount is applied (reducing the cost to you to just £14,99). However, please shop around for other offers and always read their terms and conditions.