County Durham · Yorkshire & the North East
Durham driving test centre
53.2% of car practical tests taken at Durham passed in 2025-26, from 9,451 tests. Pass rates, local road types and how we prepare you for this centre.
Durham pass rates
Pass rate 2025-26
53.2%
5,027 passes
National average
50%
+3.2 points here
Tests conducted
9,451
about 788 a month
Best published year
62.5%
2021-22
9,451 car practical tests were taken at Durham in 2025-26. 53.2% passed, 3.2 percentage points above the national average of 50%. That is down from 56.9% in 2019-20.
Over the published years the rate has moved between 48.1% in 2023-24 and 62.5% in 2021-22, so a single year's figure is a weak guide on its own. That works out at roughly 788 tests a month, which is what waiting times at Durham depend on more than the pass rate does.
- Durham
- National average
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate | National | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 9,451 | 5,027 | 53.2% | 50% | 53.7% | 52.6% |
| 2024-25 | 8,228 | 4,083 | 49.6% | 48.7% | 49.7% | 49.5% |
| 2023-24 | 9,516 | 4,573 | 48.1% | 47.9% | 48.8% | 47.3% |
| 2022-23 | 7,617 | 4,246 | 55.7% | 48.4% | 57% | 54.6% |
| 2021-22 | 5,795 | 3,623 | 62.5% | 48.9% | 64.8% | 60.4% |
| 2019-20 | 7,598 | 4,320 | 56.9% | 45.9% | 59.1% | 54.8% |
Source: DVSA table DRT122A, car practical driving test pass rates by test centre, published on GOV.UK. Figures are financial years running April to March.
Where Durham test centre is
Arrive ten minutes early and park where you can pull out easily. The waiting room is small at most centres, so your instructor will normally wait in the car park while you take the test.
Driving out of Durham
Routes out of Durham use the roads around the centre: steep banks, narrow streets and rural roads. Each of them is marked differently, which is why the last few hours of tuition are worked around the centre.
Tight manoeuvring in the historic centre.
Durham covers learners in and around Durham, and it is where most of our Durham course students sit the test. If you are choosing between centres, practise the road types listed above rather than picking on pass-rate figures alone.
Most learners who retake at Durham say the driving was fine and the pressure was not.
Roads you are likely to meet
Steep banks
Narrow streets
Rural roads
- Tight manoeuvring in the historic centre.
Test routes are no longer published by the DVSA, and examiners vary them. Treat this as a guide to the local road types rather than a route list. Book your test and check availability on GOV.UK.
Where marks are lost at Durham
Moving off uphill
Stopping on a hill is the easy half. The marked half is moving away again without rolling back into the car behind.
Meeting traffic and clearance
Whose priority it is, how much room you leave for parked cars, and whether you wait in a safe place — all marked closely on these streets.
Bends, crests and sightlines
Drive to what you can see stopping in. Cresting a rise at 60 with no forward view reads as a lack of planning, not confidence.
How we prepare you for this centre
Local route practice
The last hours of your course are spent on steep banks and narrow streets near the centre, because that is what the examiner will put you on.
One rehearsal, examiner-style
Marked the way an examiner marks it, on a Durham route, with a written debrief of every fault.
All four manoeuvres
Every manoeuvre practised with traffic present, because that is the version that appears on the day.
Test-day rehearsal
Licence and theory certificate checked, show me / tell me covered, and the sat-nav section practised before the day.
Courses that suit test-centre prep
Durham test centre FAQs
What are the test routes like at Durham?
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes, and examiners vary them. In practice, routes from Durham draw on steep banks, narrow streets, rural roads, so those are the conditions to rehearse rather than a fixed sequence of streets.
What do learners most often fail on at Durham?
moving off uphill, meeting traffic and clearance, bends, crests and sightlines — all of which come directly from the road types on the local network.
Can I take an intensive course and test at Durham?
Yes. We match you with a DVSA approved instructor who teaches on these roads day to day, and we look for the earliest practical slot at Durham or a nearby centre serving Durham.
How do I book a practical test at Durham?
Practical tests are booked through GOV.UK with your provisional licence and theory certificate numbers. We can check cancellations for you once your course dates are set.
How early should I arrive at Durham?
Ten minutes early is enough. Bring your provisional licence; the eyesight check happens outside before you get in the car, so know which plate you can read.
Should I travel to a different centre instead?
We will not sell you a pass rate. Published DVSA figures reflect who books there as much as the roads, and a centre an hour away that you cannot practise around is a worse bet than the one your instructor drives every week.
Not sure how many hours you need?
Answer four quick questions and we will recommend a course based on your experience, not a sales target.