Overview
- The AA proposed that people who pass their driving test in an automatic car should be allowed to drive manual vehicles after a one‑hour conversion lesson provided by driving schools, a plan set out publicly on Sunday.
- The Department for Transport has said the law still requires a passed manual driving test to gain entitlement to drive manual cars and that it has no plans to change that rule.
- DVSA figures show the average wait to book a driving test rose to nearly 22 weeks in May, a large increase from about five weeks before the pandemic and a key reason the AA says shorter conversion routes are needed.
- The share of tests taken in automatic cars has climbed to a record 29.4% in the last financial year from about 4% in 2007/08 because many electric vehicles lack a conventional gearbox and learners therefore train in automatics.
- DVSA is pursuing operational fixes such as recruiting and fast‑tracking examiners, using military examiners and reforming the booking process, but campaigners warn up to about 1.1 million automatic‑only licence holders still face practical limits on work, hiring or borrowing manual cars.