UK Driving Test Centre Pass Rates (2019)

Driving test centres: What are the 2019 pass rates?

When learning to drive, your end goal is, of course, wanting to pass your driving test as quickly and as efficiently as you possibly can. After all, doing it as soon as possible saves you time and money, and gets you on the road to independence.

Theoretically, every driving test centre should give you the same chances of passing your driving test, since they all follow the same testing procedure. But is that the case? Read on: the statistics may surprise you!

As mentioned, every driving test centre has to follow the same standardised test, which is set and administered by the DVSA in Great Britain, and the DVA in Northern Ireland. But while the driving test procedures are the same, the locations are not.

If you live in a bigger town or a city metropolitan area, you may find yourself struggling to pass your driving test first time, compared to someone who lives in a comparatively rural area. Cities tend to have far more complex junctions and road layouts to handle the far greater traffic count – which in itself is terrifying enough!

You won’t be surprised to hear, then, that London is by far one of the worst places to take your driving test and expect to pass for the first time. Erith, which is situated in South-East London near Dartford, has the worst passing rate in the country – with just 30.1% driving students successful at passing their driving test first time round there.

Manchester (another huge metropolitan area) is also a bad offender for low pass rates for the driving test. Both Chadderton and Cheetham Hill feature in the bottom five driving test centres in terms of pass rates, with 32.1% and 33.1% respectively.

Luckily, if any of these test centres (or any big city, for that matter) falls in your catchment area for your driving test, don’t panic! There are several things you can do to make your life easier, and give yourself the best opportunity to pass the first time.

Firstly, try learning the routes! With Driving Test Routes, you can download all the routes from any driving test centre in the UK to any device of your choice – from iPhone to TomTom. You can then practice the routes in your own time without the pressure of being examined, which allows you to build up your confidence and have a greater knowledge of where you’ll be expected to go in your driving test. So be sure to practice those tricky junctions if they appear on a test route!

Additionally, bear in mind that just because you live near a certain driving test centre doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the place where you have to carry out your driving test. You won’t be surprised to hear that it’s far easier to pass your test in rural Scotland’s open roads, compared to the complex urban maze of London. In fact, Golspie, a village in the Scottish Highlands, has the best pass rate out of the entire country, at 78.8%!

If you’re willing to travel, it will likely pay off. Combine that with the comprehensive Driving Test Routes mapping, and you’ll be getting yourself on the road in no time!

You can view the full list of driving test centres and their respective pass rates below:

(% Pass Rate 2019)