Banbury Driving Test Centre
The Banbury driving test centre is located in Banbury, England. Below are the official pass-rate statistics, multi-year trend, demographic breakdown, and how this centre compares against the UK average and its neighbours, all drawn from the DVSA quarterly statistical release.
Pass vs fail at a glance
6.6K passed, 2.3K failed, 8.9K total
How Banbury compares
Banbury performs well above the UK average. Learners passing here are more likely to pass than at most other UK centres, though this can also reflect quieter test routes and fewer challenging junctions.
Where Banbury ranks among 194 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Most common faults at this centre
The fault categories most frequently recorded against learners on test. Knowing them lets you target practice on the things examiners are most likely to penalise.
- 1Junctions - observation10
- 2Mirrors - change direction9
- 3Move off - safely8
- 4Junctions - turning right7
- 5Response to signs - traffic lights6
Per-centre fault breakdowns are derived from the DVSA national fault distribution applied to centre-level test outcomes.
Pass rate by demographic
Estimated wait time and demand
Wait times at Banbury have been gradually shortening as DVSA recovers post-pandemic capacity. Booking is achievable but not immediate: learners booking at Banbury typically wait around 17 weeks from booking to test day.
Wait time is estimated from regional demand patterns reported in the National Audit Office investigation into car driving test waiting times (Dec 2024) and the DVSA Despatch blog updates, combined with this centre's test volume. Real availability fluctuates with examiner staffing and cancellations, always check the official DVSA booking service for live slots.
Centre details
Address
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Banbury
- car
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- ADI part 3
Accessibility & facilities
Parking and toilet details aren't included in DVSA's published feed. For the current on-site facilities, check the DVSA find a driving test centre tool with postcode OX16 9PA, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Of the DVSA motorcycle module 2 centres across England, Banbury is the one covering Banbury, Oxfordshire. The routes are built around the roads the centre's examiners can reach inside the test's time budget. Sample size: 8.9K tests over 2017-18-2024-25. Enough that comparisons hold up; small enough that a single examiner retiring or a route being temporarily diverted can show in the data.
If you've been told Banbury is "an easy centre" or "a hard one", the data won't fully back that. 72.3% is 23.6 points clear of the UK motorcycle module 2 average of 48.7%, which is rank #80 out of 194. First-attempt data for Banbury is missing from the DVSA's DRT122C release. It's not a low number, it's no number, the centre is small enough that DVSA omits it from that particular table.
All figures shown are aggregated from the DVSA quarterly statistical release covering the most recent reporting periods available. Pass-rate calculations exclude tests cancelled by the candidate or examiner. Sample sizes and methodology are described in the source attribution at the foot of this page.
What learners should know about Banbury
- Above-average pass rate at Banbury doesn't mean above-average ease. The fundamentals examiners mark are the same nationally: junctions, mirrors, observation, signal timing. A 65%+ pass rate means more candidates clear those, not that the bar is lower.
- Ask any instructor working Banbury about the centre's "usual fails", they'll have two or three specific junctions or manoeuvres in mind. Practise those until they're automatic before your date.
- If you missed the earlier slots at Banbury, the DVSA's official cancellation pool refreshes constantly. Check at off-peak times (early morning, late evening) for better odds.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Banbury
Arrive at Banbury with about ten minutes to spare and know your parking options in advance, they vary site to site across the DVSA network. The DVSA centre finder maps the centre and its surroundings. With high demand and waits near 17 weeks, take any earlier slot the booking service offers rather than holding out. Don't set off without your provisional photocard licence; the test cannot start without it, and your car needs L plates and a working interior mirror.
Once underway the test takes around 40 minutes and is the same wherever you sit it. The examiner verifies your eyesight at 20 metres, puts one show-me and one tell-me question to you, then accompanies the drive. About 20 minutes is independent driving, sat nav or road signs to a named destination, with one of four set manoeuvres and an emergency stop on roughly one test in three. The drive covers the local mix of road types within roughly a twenty-minute radius of the centre. Across recent DVSA marking, the fault logged most often at this centre is junctions - observation, worth drilling on the local routes before your date.
There is no wait for the verdict, the examiner delivers it at the centre. They go over each fault recorded, hand you the DL25 feedback form, and on a pass retain your provisional licence so the full version arrives by post. To pass you need no more than 15 driving faults and not a single serious or dangerous one; 72.3% of candidates at Banbury currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Banbury?
Is Banbury an easy or hard test centre?
How does Banbury compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Banbury each year?
Which driving test centres are near Banbury?
When is the best time to book a test at Banbury?
How do I book a test at Banbury and what do I need?
How long is the wait for a driving test at Banbury?
Data: DVSA quarterly statistical release, released under the Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRates.uk aggregates DVSA centre-level totals across reporting periods.
Edited by Vikas. DVSA data period: 2024-25.