DSA's complaints procedure
Right to appeal
If you don’t pass your driving test, you’ll obviously be disappointed. Although we can’t change your examiner’s decision, if you think he or she did not carry out your test in line with the regulations, you have the right to appeal to a magistrates’ court if you live in England or Wales, or a sheriff’s court if you live in Scotland. You have six months after your test to do this in England and Wales, and 21 days after your test in Scotland.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) and Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA)
If you ask us for any information, we will treat your request as though you had made it under the FoIA, whether you mentioned the Act or not in your request. In many cases we’ll be able to give you what you asked for more quickly than the 20 working days the Act allows public bodies to respond to FoIA requests. The DPA doesn’t allow us give personal information about you to someone else without your written permission. If you’re contacting us about someone else, you must include the following statement from them in your letter:
‘I [their name] authorise [your name] to request this information on my behalf.’
That person must sign next to the statement for us to give the information to you.
Complaints about tests
Stage one
You can send us an email, phone, or write to us if you have any questions or complaints about:
- booking your test
- test cancellations
- the conduct of your test
- the result of your test
- out-of-pocket expenses
Please tell us the type of test you took, the date, time and place you took your test, and why you’re complaining. Please also tell us what solution you’re looking for. We aim to answer complaints within 10 working days of receiving them (not including weekends or bank holidays).
We deal with complaints about theory and practical tests in different offices; please make sure you contact the right office.
Stage two
If you’ve followed the procedure in step one and are not satisfied with the response, you can write to our chief executive at our headquarters and ask them to look at your complaint.
Stage three
If you’ve followed steps one and two and are still not satisfied, you can also ask to have your complaint investigated by the Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA). You need to ask our chief executive to refer your complaint to the ICA for you. You can find their contact details above, or from the letter or email you received from them.
Stage four
If you’ve:
- had your case investigated by the ICA
- asked for your case to be investigated by the ICA but we told you that your case was not one the ICA could investigate
and are still dissatisfied, you can ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to look at your complaint. You must do this through a Member of Parliament (MP) who is usually, but does not have to be your own constituency MP.
Complaints about compulsory basic training (CBT)
If you have any questions or complaints about your CBT course that you can’t sort out with your trainer, you should contact the CBT section at our headquarters.
Complaints from or about approved driving instructors (ADI)
If you have a complaint about an ADI that you can’t sort out with them, the school or the contractor, or you’re an ADI with a complaint about your ADI registration, you can write to the Registrar of ADIs at our headquarters.