From the DVSA:

A campaign to recruit additional vocational driving examiners in England and Wales to help reduce the lorry driver shortage has been launched by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) today (17 August).

40 new vocational examiners will be recruited in total made up of existing DVSA employees and external candidates.

The Government wrote to the UK haulage industry on 20 July outlining a package of measures to help address the lorry driver shortage.

It acknowledged that increasing the availability of vocational driving tests is key to this issue.

Emergency measures

DVSA continues to develop measures to maximise testing capacity, including consulting on plans to streamline the process for drivers to gain their HGV licence . The additional examiners will enable DVSA to offer more lorry driving test appointments.

It has already increased the number of vocational driving tests from 2,000 a week pre-pandemic to 3,000 by overtime and allocating additional employees into testing.

DVSA Chief Executive Loveday Ryder said:

“We recognise the haulage industry keeps the wheels of our economy turning and have listened to its concerns about the current lorry driver shortage.

“We have responded by doing all we can to support the industry in tackling this issue through increasing lorry driver testing.

“This includes our latest campaign to recruit more vocational examiners so we can maximise our lorry testing capacity.”

Roads Minister, Baroness Vere, said:

“Our HGV drivers provide a vital service delivering food, medicine and other vital goods to where they’re needed. That’s why we’re committed to working with industry to address the shortage of drivers and have unveiled a package of robust measures.

“Increasing the DVSA’s testing capacity is a crucial part of this plan, and I’d encourage anyone with the right experience to apply for a role – helping keep our country moving.”

Further information

A full Category CE driving licence is essential for the vocational examiner posts.

These roles can offer part-time flexible working hours, including evening and weekend working opportunities.

Successful applicants will carry out car driving tests for 4 months after their training and will then move on to vocational tests.

The roles are needed in the following areas:

  • east England
  • north-west England
  • south England
  • south-east England
  • south-west England
  • West Midlands
  • north and south Wales

More details about the roles and the application form are available here.

Deadline for applications is 11.55pm on Thursday 2 September.

This is part of our overall aim of recruiting 40 new vocational examiners, some of which have already been recruited internally and we are now recruiting externally for the remaining posts.

Vocational driving tests are an essential step for people to access professional lorry driving, although they are not required for most people with standard pre-1997 licences for driving smaller lorries (up to 7.5 tonnes).

For more information contact DVSA press office [email protected]