Wiltshire · South West
Salisbury driving test centre
48.5% of car practical tests taken at Salisbury passed in 2025-26, from 6,630 tests. Pass rates, local road types and how we prepare you for this centre.
Salisbury pass rates
Pass rate 2025-26
48.5%
3,215 passes
National average
50%
-1.5 points here
Tests conducted
6,630
about 553 a month
Best published year
59.1%
2020-21
6,630 car practical tests were taken at Salisbury in 2025-26. 48.5% passed, 1.5 percentage points below the national average of 50%. That is down from 55.1% in 2019-20.
Over the published years the rate has moved between 48.5% in 2025-26 and 59.1% in 2020-21, so a single year's figure is a weak guide on its own. That works out at roughly 553 tests a month, which is what waiting times at Salisbury depend on more than the pass rate does.
- Salisbury
- National average
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate | National | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 6,630 | 3,215 | 48.5% | 50% | 48.2% | 48.8% |
| 2024-25 | 5,624 | 2,954 | 52.5% | 48.7% | 51.3% | 54.1% |
| 2023-24 | 4,406 | 2,470 | 56.1% | 47.9% | 54.3% | 58.1% |
| 2022-23 | 3,481 | 1,958 | 56.2% | 48.4% | 57.6% | 54.8% |
| 2021-22 | 4,418 | 2,417 | 54.7% | 48.9% | 54.5% | 54.9% |
| 2020-21 | 1,284 | 759 | 59.1% | 49.8% | 60.2% | 58.1% |
| 2019-20 | 3,546 | 1,955 | 55.1% | 45.9% | 57.3% | 53% |
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 Salisbury 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 Salisbury
Instructors who teach out of Salisbury report the same road mix on most routes: high street, suburban streets and rural fringe. Learners who have only driven quiet estate roads tend to find the pace higher than they expect.
Mini-roundabouts are the usual stumbling block — they still need proper observation and signalling. Expect at least one manoeuvre on a residential street with parked cars. Learners across South West often book here without practising locally first — the road types above are the gap to close.
Salisbury takes candidates from across Wiltshire, so plenty arrive having learned on a different road mix. That usually shows in the first five minutes of the drive.
A marked mock test on these roads is the most useful thing you can do in the week before your slot.
Roads you are likely to meet
High street
Suburban streets
Rural fringe
- Mini-roundabouts are the usual stumbling block — they still need proper observation and signalling.
- Expect at least one manoeuvre on a residential street with parked cars.
- Learners across South West often book here without practising locally first — the road types above are the gap to close.
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 Salisbury
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.
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
Time on the real roads
We plan the final sessions around Salisbury itself, so the high street you meet on test day are ones you have already driven.
A full mock test
A full-length mock from the Salisbury 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 Salisbury 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
Salisbury test centre FAQs
What are the test routes like at Salisbury?
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes, and examiners vary them. In practice, routes from Salisbury draw on high street, suburban streets, rural fringe, so those are the conditions to rehearse rather than a fixed sequence of streets.
What do learners most often fail on at Salisbury?
anticipation and pedestrians, 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 Salisbury?
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 Salisbury.
How do I book a practical test at Salisbury?
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 happens when I get to Salisbury?
Arrive with your provisional licence and a car that is legal, insured for the test and has no warning lights showing. We handle that side if you use one of our instructors' cars.
Is Salisbury an easy test centre?
Pass rates are published by the DVSA, but they say more about the mix of candidates than the difficulty of the routes. Practising the road types above will move your odds more than switching centres.
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.