Barra Driving Test Centre
The Barra driving test centre is located in Barraigh, Scotland. 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
121 passed, 55 failed, 176 total
How Barra compares
Barra 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 Barra 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 Barra have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is comparatively quick: learners booking at Barra typically wait around 7 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
Accessibility & facilities
Parking, toilets, and disabled-access details vary by centre. Check the official DVSA find a driving test centre tool, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Barra: a DVSA car test centre in Barraigh, Na h-Eileanan Siar. Local routes, local traffic patterns, no national standard for what "harder" or "easier" looks like beyond what the numbers below show. 176 tests across 2017-18-2024-25. That's a small sample, and the single-period rates you'll see in the chart can swing wildly without much underlying change. The multi-year roll-up is the only stable read.
The top ten percent of the UK by pass rate: Barra ranks #9 of 323 car centres at 68.8%, 20.1 points clear of the national figure of 48.7%. The DVSA's first-attempt figure for Barra sits at 66.7%, 17.7 points clear of the 49% UK average. The gap is wide enough to matter when you're deciding which local centre to book.
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 Barra
- Above-average pass rate at Barra 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.
- 66.7% of first-timers pass at Barra. If your instructor is signing you off as test-ready, that figure is a fair guide, the centre isn't the variable, your preparation is.
- Barra is a low-volume centre (176 tests on record). Period-to-period swings can look dramatic without much underlying change, read the multi-year aggregate rather than any single quarter's figure.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Barra routes. Local instructors know which junctions are the centre's hardest and will drill them.
- The only legitimate booking route is gov.uk. Anything calling itself a "test booking concierge" is reselling the same slots at a markup, the slots aren't theirs to control.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Barra
Arrive at Barra 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. Waits here run around 7 weeks at low demand, so you can usually pick a date without a long wait. 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. If Benbecula Island is fully booked, Barra is the next closest centre, roughly 34 miles away.
Expect about 40 minutes once you set off, to the same national DVSA script. It opens with an eyesight check at 20 metres and one show-me plus one tell-me question, after which the examiner rides along for the drive. Around 20 minutes of that is independent driving, guided either by a sat nav the examiner provides or by road signs to a named destination, with one of four set manoeuvres and a one-in-three chance of an emergency stop. 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.
Results come immediately on return to the centre. The examiner talks you through any faults marked, prints the DL25 feedback form, and (if you passed) takes your provisional licence so the full one can be issued by post. A pass needs no more than 15 driving faults and zero serious or dangerous faults, the standard 68.8% of candidates at Barra meet under current DVSA marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Barra?
Is Barra an easy or hard test centre?
How does Barra compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Barra 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.