Copycat websites offer to book theory and practical driving tests, and can appear to be the official agency, but charge a premium for their services. Some websites also charge for ‘pass protection’ with the promise of a free re-test that very few customers would ever qualify to use. Some companies charge up to £30 for just booking a test, on top of the driving test fee itself. Save money by booking direct Coming to DSA directly can save money and gives you instant confirmation of your driving test appointment. A car theory test costs £31 and a practical test costs £62 when booked through the official website; all driving test costs are at gov.uk/driving-test-cost Alastair Peoples, DSA Chief Executive, said: It’s unacceptable that some of these websites try to trick learner drivers into paying an extra fee to book their driving test. We’ve already taken action with Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority to make sure that they don’t use official logos, trademarks or make misleading claims. We continue to monitor these sites and explore new ways to counteract activities. Misleading consumers In response to complaints from DSA, the Advertising Standards Authority has ordered a number of websites to remove wording that could mislead consumers into thinking they were using the official booking service. Last month (July 2013), the website book-theory-test-online.co.uk was fined £85,000 by premium rate phone regulator Phone Pay Plus for ‘very serious’ breaches of its code. Official booking website GOV.UK is the only official driving test booking website for both theory and practical tests. You can book a theory test at gov.uk/booktheorytest and a practical driving test at gov.uk/bookdrivingtest. The official booking website also works on mobile devices If you’ve used an unofficial website The Citizens’ Advice Bureau can tell you about any course of redress open to you in your case if you’ve used an unofficial booking webs
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 13:40:55 +0000