Lancashire · North West
Preston driving test centre
56.3% of car practical tests taken at Preston passed in 2025-26, from 9,194 tests. Pass rates, local road types and how we prepare you for this centre.
Preston pass rates
Pass rate 2025-26
56.3%
5,174 passes
National average
50%
+6.3 points here
Tests conducted
9,194
about 766 a month
Best published year
61.1%
2022-23
9,194 car practical tests were taken at Preston in 2025-26. 56.3% passed, 6.3 percentage points above the national average of 50%. It is up on 2019-20, when 54.6% passed.
Over the published years the rate has moved between 53.7% in 2024-25 and 61.1% in 2022-23, so a single year's figure is a weak guide on its own. In 2025-26 the rate was 58.2% for male candidates and 54% for female candidates. That works out at roughly 766 tests a month, which is what waiting times at Preston depend on more than the pass rate does.
- Preston
- National average
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate | National | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 9,194 | 5,174 | 56.3% | 50% | 58.2% | 54% |
| 2024-25 | 11,380 | 6,116 | 53.7% | 48.7% | 54.2% | 53.1% |
| 2023-24 | 11,115 | 6,305 | 56.7% | 47.9% | 57.7% | 55.4% |
| 2022-23 | 9,704 | 5,930 | 61.1% | 48.4% | 63.3% | 58.7% |
| 2021-22 | 8,062 | 4,584 | 56.9% | 48.9% | 61.3% | 52.5% |
| 2019-20 | 7,518 | 4,102 | 54.6% | 45.9% | 58.4% | 51.1% |
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 Preston 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 Preston
Routes out of Preston use the roads around the centre: city streets, dual carriageway and rural fringe. Each of them is marked differently, which is why the last few hours of tuition are worked around the centre.
Good variety — practise all three environments.
Preston covers learners in and around Preston, and it is where most of our Preston 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 Preston say the driving was fine and the pressure was not.
Roads you are likely to meet
City streets
Dual carriageway
Rural fringe
- Good variety — practise all three environments.
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 Preston
Anticipation and pedestrians
Busy footfall means a lot of the marking is about looking far enough ahead — spotting the person about to step out, not reacting once they have.
Merging with faster traffic
Emerging too slowly forces other drivers to react, and that is marked. Use the full length of the slip road and match the flow before you merge.
Judgement on unlit lanes
Passing places, mud on the road, horses and tractors are all part of the marking here — and so is progress once the road opens up.
How we prepare you for this centre
Time on the real roads
We plan the final sessions around Preston itself, so the city streets you meet on test day are ones you have already driven.
A full mock test
A full-length mock from the Preston area, scored on the DVSA sheet so you see exactly where the marks went.
Manoeuvres in real locations
All four test manoeuvres, practised in the kind of streets examiners around Preston actually use.
The paperwork and the routine
We walk the whole sequence — arrival, documents, eyesight check, independent drive — so nothing on the day is new.
Courses that suit test-centre prep
Preston test centre FAQs
What are the test routes like at Preston?
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes, and examiners vary them. In practice, routes from Preston draw on city streets, dual carriageway, rural fringe, so those are the conditions to rehearse rather than a fixed sequence of streets.
What do learners most often fail on at Preston?
anticipation and pedestrians, merging with faster traffic, judgement on unlit lanes — all of which come directly from the road types on the local network.
Can I take an intensive course and test at Preston?
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 Preston or a nearby centre serving Preston.
How do I book a practical test at Preston?
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.
What do I need to bring to Preston?
Aim to be there ten minutes before your slot with your provisional licence. Your instructor will normally use the half hour beforehand for a warm-up drive on nearby roads rather than sitting in the car park.
Does Preston have a good pass rate?
Travelling for a higher published pass rate usually backfires: you arrive tired, on roads you have never driven. Preparing properly for Preston is the better use of the same hours.
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.