A WILTSHIRE driving instructor believes more needs to be done for learners as they are being forced to wait up to 12 weeks to book a driving test.

Calne’s Gary Fossey is calling on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to do more to improve the waiting time, which he believes is costing his students money and the chance to develop their careers.

“It’s an utter nightmare,” said the 51-year-old, who has been a driving instructor for ten years.

“You can’t get a test unless someone cancels and the next available slots in Chippenham are not until about May.

“The driving test centres in Trowbridge and Westbury are only open two days a week each after we campaigned to get them re-opened in 2011.

“It’s affecting people’s job prospects and it’s just adding pressure as many people taking these tests are already under pressure.”

One of Mr Fossey’s pupils, 24-year-old Tom Gingell, has sent a letter to MP for Devizes Claire Perry, calling on her to tackle the problem in her role as government minister responsible for the DVSA.

In his letter, the 24-year-old said: “This is costly in terms of driving lessons in the interim, makes it more difficult to pass the test following an unsuccessful attempt and has a negative effect on my ability to travel and get to work from, what is often the case in this constituency, a rural area.

“It is unacceptable that people, especially young adults in rural areas such as Devizes constituency, are unable to take a driving test within a reasonable and realistic timescale, from what’s been reported I understand six weeks to be the target, and are potentially losing out in financial and career terms.”

“Where I live is quite a rural area and I’m heavily reliant on being able to get to places,” added Mr Gingell, who has taken several driving tests in the past few months.

“I’m taking on more hours in my job at B&Q in Devizes but it’s difficult doing overtime as I have to work out how to get there on public transport."

“I’m thinking before I go into the test that if I muck this up I have got a massive wait before I can take it again.

“It’s a national issue not just a rural problem but it’s getting worse and worse.”