Apr
21

DSA Practical Driving Test search script

By Stevan // Misc, Web Development // 11 Comments

I’ve recently had to hastily pass my practical driving test as my theory test certificate was about to expire. It’s a little well known fact that some areas are well known for their long waiting periods. Hello Isleworth in London. There’s a 1-2 month waiting list as standard for that test center, which is just too long and would tip me over my theory expiration date.

So I decided to book any date (to have a failsafe, plus a booking reference is required to update a booking), and whip up a little script that logs into the DSA booking service, search for better dates in 2 areas (Ashford and Isleworth for me) and email me if anything good pops up.

The script is written in Python and uses the great BeautifulSoup library. It’s a little rough around the edges as I didn’t plan on releasing it, and I’m certain that the code is nowhere near its potential beauty and elegance. My apologies!

Download: dsa.py

I haven’t tested it on Windows (and doubt it would work on it without some tweaking), I’ve only tested it on Linux and Mac OS. If you need a hand at running it, leave a comment. I found and booked a test in Isleworth that was 10 days away on the 2nd day of running the script.

Tags: beautifulsoup, dsa, python, script

11 Comments to “DSA Practical Driving Test search script”

Danny May 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Hi Steven ?

I need a hand at loading your script as I am having a nightmare getting a date for the Isleworth Test Centre .

This will be very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Dan
Stevan May 16, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Hi Danny,

Sure! Whereabouts are you stuck? Have you got python with BeautifulSoup & mechanize installed?

Stevan
toto June 9, 2008 at 9:47 am

Thanks a lot Steven for your WONDERFUL script.
canezl September 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm

good site canezl
maria May 16, 2009 at 7:47 am

I have the same problem, how to run this script?
Stevan May 17, 2009 at 12:55 am

Zdravo Maria!

To run the script you’ll need to have Python and BeautifulSoup installed. If you like, send me an email and I’ll help you set it up.

Cheers,
Stevan
maria May 17, 2009 at 9:22 pm

Zdravo Stevane,
I sent e- mail to you, with explanation.
Thank you
Maria
Andy June 13, 2009 at 1:28 pm

hehe. That’s funny. I failed yesterday, and I was thinking ‘oh no, have to wait another 3 months for a new date’ then thought this morning, ‘hm, what if I wrote a python script and used beautifulsoup to check regularly’. This page came up first hit on google for ‘scripting dsa driving test’, thanks!
Nupur September 8, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Hi Steven,

Please can you help me with this. how do I run this script. I failed my driving test today.

Regards
Nupur
Laura September 30, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Hi

Could you help me too please as I’m not sure how to download the software and run the script.

Many thanks

Laura
Alex August 8, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Hello
Is there anyone could you help me please.
How can I run this script?
Thanks/