{"id":35358,"date":"2021-04-22T13:40:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T12:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/?p=35358"},"modified":"2021-04-22T13:40:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T12:40:27","slug":"driving-tests-resume-today-after-covid-19-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/04\/22\/driving-tests-resume-today-after-covid-19-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving tests resume today after Covid-19 delays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Driving tests are resuming again in parts of the UK today after being on hold for several months this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tests had been on pause since January as a result of Covid-19 restrictions but are now allowed to restart again in England and Wales.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 450,000 exams have been cancelled during the break, meaning that most centres are booked up with a significant backlog to get through.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hayden Southwell, a self-employed driving instructor from Doncaster said that this change comes as a relief.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said: \u201cWe\u2019re very happy to get tests going again because we\u2019ve got a lot of people wanting to start lessons who we can\u2019t take on yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPassing your driving test changes everything; job prospects, freedom, not relying on buses or taxis, it gives you an extra life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not just the students who will benefit from this sector reopening, instructors like Hayden often rely on this work as their main source of income.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr Southwell said: \u201cI\u2019m self-employed so not being able to work has been a nightmare and I\u2019ve just had a baby as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s been reported that roughly 300 new examiners have been hired to help speed up the waiting list, with some even being brought out of retirement to support the effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The trouble that many students and instructors are facing is that they cannot take their driving test until they have passed the theory exam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to the pandemic, however, these have expired for many students as they\u2019re only valid for 24 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helen Taylor, a driving instructor from Sheffield said: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe choice to not extend the theory tests is fair because the pupil will have forgotten the rules of the road but on the other hand, so have people who have driven for years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She added: \u201cI think the theory test should at least be free for one attempt due to the pandemic.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike many instructors, Mrs Taylor doesn\u2019t consider the exams to have been cancelled because they use their own booking system, moving slots as soon as they know they\u2019re not allowed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 51-year-old admits this hasn\u2019t been easy either. She said: \u201cAs an instructor, it\u2019s been hard stopping and starting as it puts pupils back in their learning process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr Southwell agreed and said: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to get back to it but let\u2019s hope this time we don\u2019t get stopped again\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Featured Image credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visioncreation.co.uk\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow\">www.visioncreation.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driving tests will start again today after being put on hold for months due to Covid restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":35381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[469,470,472],"class_list":["post-35358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-driving-instructor","tag-driving-lessons","tag-driving-test"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - 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