OXFORDSHIRE is reportedly facing a huge backlog of learner drivers wanting to book a test.

One mother has even said her son's friends 'are not bothering to learn' as a result of the problem.

Kit Smith told BBC Radio Oxford her son Lex was having difficulty booking a test in the county, and was considering booking further afield.

She said: "There is no option to do it in Oxfordshire, both of us have been keeping an eye on it but sometimes you have to wait to be able to even log on.

"Most of his friends are not even learning to drive, and with the cost of learning to drive, the complications, the delay in it, most of them are not bothering to learn."

The Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency, the Government agency in charge of testing drivers, said it is recruiting 300 new examiners across the UK to deal with the backlog.