Barnsley Driving Test Centre
The Barnsley driving test centre is located in Barnsley, 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
47.1K passed, 53.7K failed, 100.8K total
How Barnsley compares
Barnsley performs notably better than the UK average. This often correlates with rural or suburban routes that have fewer multi-lane roundabouts and complex urban scenarios.
Where Barnsley ranks among 323 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 Barnsley have been lengthening as demand outpaces examiner capacity. Booking requires patience: learners booking at Barnsley typically wait around 18 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 Barnsley
- car
- ADI part 2
- 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 S75 2DH, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Barnsley is one of the DVSA's car test sites in England, located in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The choice of routes reflects the local mix of road types rather than any standard national template. If you're cross-checking this pass rate against other sources, the sample size matters. 100.8K tests over 2017-18-2024-25 is large enough that any rounding you see between sites is just rounding, not disagreement on the underlying data.
Barnsley runs close to the national curve: 52.2% pass rate, 3.5 points above the UK average of 48.7%. The rank is #128 of 323 car centres. First-time pass rate: 52.2%. UK average: 49%. Barnsley is 3.2 points to the good on first attempts, a meaningful gap, not a rounding artefact.
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 Barnsley
- Centre difficulty is roughly average at Barnsley. The same fault categories that fail candidates nationally (junctions, mirrors, observation) are what fail candidates here, in similar proportions.
- Volume at Barnsley is among the highest in the network. Don't take the first available date on faith, refreshing the DVSA booking page across a few days regularly turns up cancellations.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Barnsley routes. Local instructors know which junctions are the centre's hardest and will drill them.
- If you missed the earlier slots at Barnsley, 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 Barnsley
Turn up at Barnsley ten minutes before your appointment, and check ahead where you can park, DVSA sites vary on that. You can preview the location on the DVSA centre finder. Demand is high and waits are near 18 weeks, so an early booking plus a cancellation watch is the sensible approach. The examiner will ask to see your provisional photocard licence before anything else, and your car must carry L plates and a working interior mirror. If Wakefield is fully booked, Barnsley is the next closest centre, roughly 9 miles away.
Plan for a drive of roughly 40 minutes, identical in structure to every other DVSA centre. First comes the 20-metre eyesight check and a pair of vehicle-safety questions, one show-me, one tell-me, then the examiner joins you for the road section. About 20 minutes is independent driving by sat nav or by following signs to a named target, you tackle one of four set manoeuvres, and around a third of candidates get an emergency stop. The drive works through whatever mix of urban and outlying roads sits within about a twenty-minute radius, and at a centre this busy that usually means heavier traffic to read. Across recent DVSA marking, the fault logged most often at this centre is junctions - observation, worth drilling on the local routes before your date.
You find out there and then, back at Barnsley. The examiner runs through the faults on the DL25 feedback form and, on a pass, keeps your provisional licence so a full licence follows in the post. Clearing the test means staying under 16 driving faults, that is 15 or fewer, with no serious or dangerous fault; 52.2% of candidates here manage it on the current marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Barnsley?
Is Barnsley an easy or hard test centre?
How does Barnsley compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Barnsley each year?
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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.