Ministers are to bar people from taking the driving test in a foreign language amid concerns that they cannot read road signs in English.
There are growing fears that the 60,000 people who sat tests using intepreters or foreign voice-overs are unsafe to drive on Britain's roads.
The government also wants to re
duce the levels of fraud amid concerns that having an interpreter during a theory test enables people to cheat.
The rules currently allow the theory test to be sat in 19 foreign languages, aided by either an interpreter or voiceovers. People are also permitted to attend the practical test with a translator.
Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, said: “We want to make sure that all drivers have the right skills to use our roads safely and responsibly and one way we can do this is by requiring all test candidates to take the test in English or Welsh.
“This will help to ensure that all new drivers will be able to understand traffic updates or emergency information when they pass their test. It will also help us to reduce the risk of fraud by stopping interpreters from indicating the correct answers to theory test questions.”
Last year a total of 56,000 theory test candidates requested foreign voiceovers while 1,700 asked for the assistance of intepreters. A total of 19,500 people asked for intepreters during their practical driving test.
The taxpayer meets the cost of translating the various driving theory tests into foreign languages – although people must meet the cost of paying for their own translator during the practical test.
There is also growing evidence of fraud. Since 2009, around 1,000 driving licences have been revoked after evidence of fraud was found during the tests.
In August Allyson Ng, a Chinese translator, was jailed for 12 months by Cardiff Crown Court for telling candidates which answer to pick in the multiple choice section of the test.
The court was told that some Chinese learner drivers did not bother to study the Highway Code because they knew that Ng would feed them the answers.
Officials became suspicious because of the sheer number of Chinese candidates who asked her to translate during the theory test.
The move has strong public support. In a consultation run earlier this year more than 70 per cent of people supported the withdrawal of foreign language voiceovers and interpreters on tests.
The ban, which is being led by Stephen Hammond, the road safety minister, will begin in February last year, with a phased withdrawal from driving centres across the country.
It will involve regulations rather than new legislation.
Transport officials believe that other European countries do not routinely allow people to sit driving tests in foreign languages.
Changes in the driving test are designed to mimic real life, scrapping turn by turn directions. It is feared in some cases interpreters could be giving more help than they are supposed to.
The Coalition has already tightened up the driving theory test.