Birmingham (Shirley) Driving Test Centre
At Birmingham (Shirley), 58.1% of candidates pass, one of the 323 test centres we rank from the DVSA data. Below you will find the full pass-rate history, the demographic split, the official DVSA waiting time and a comparison with the nearest centres.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Birmingham (Shirley) sits in the top quarter of car pass rates nationally (Top 22%, rank #71 of 323). No nearby car centre currently posts a higher pass rate.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 44.5K passed, 47.2K failed, 91.7K total
How Birmingham (Shirley) compares
The 9.4-point advantage at Birmingham (Shirley) (ranked 71 of 323 in its category) is worth having but not decisive; a well-prepared candidate passes at either kind of centre.
Where Birmingham (Shirley) ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
The direction of travel here is upward: Birmingham (Shirley) has added 13.2 points since 2017-18, from 44.9% to 58.1%, with its strongest year at 58.1% in 2024-25.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Birmingham (Shirley)
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Birmingham (Shirley) in May 2026 had waited 5.4 weeks from booking to test day.
Official DVSA data, May 2026. The median is the time between booking and taking the test; for live availability use the DVSA booking service.
Centre details
Address
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Birmingham (Shirley)
- car
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 B44 9UL, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Birmingham (Shirley) is in Birmingham, West Midlands and runs DVSA car tests for learners across the local area. Your examiner picks the route on the day without telling you which, and the DVSA does not publish them. 91.7K tests over 2017-18-2024-25. That's enough volume that the headline pass rate here moves slowly, a single bad quarter shifts it by a fraction of a percentage point rather than visibly.
Out of 323 UK car test centres, Birmingham (Shirley) ranks 71, which lands it in the top quarter nationally. The 58.1% pass rate is 9.4 points clear of the UK figure of 48.7%. First-attempt pass rate at Birmingham (Shirley): 59.9%, against 49% nationally. That's a 10.9-point lead. Well-prepared candidates with no prior test attempts pass here at a noticeably higher rate than the UK average.
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 Birmingham (Shirley)
- Above-average pass rate at Birmingham (Shirley) 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.
- First-time pass rate of 59.9% at Birmingham (Shirley) is on the forgiving side. A well-prepared first booking has a reasonable shot; don't over-correct by booking a "practice" test you don't actually need.
- Birmingham (Shirley) is a high-volume centre. Booking pressure is real, check the DVSA booking service daily for earlier slots rather than relying on the headline available date.
- Practising the roads around the centre is the preparation that most reliably pays off. Most ADI instructors in Birmingham will know the road types and junctions learners commonly meet near the centre.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Birmingham (Shirley). Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Birmingham (Shirley)
Aim to be at Birmingham (Shirley) ten minutes early. Because parking and waiting facilities are not the same at every DVSA centre, check the approach on the DVSA centre finder before the day. Demand is very high and the modelled wait is close to 18 to 22 weeks, so an early booking and a cancellation alert are both worth setting up. The examiner needs to see your provisional photocard licence to begin, and the car you bring must be roadworthy, fitted with L plates and a working interior mirror. If Birmingham (South Yardley) is fully booked, Birmingham (Shirley) is the next closest centre, roughly 3 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 tell-me vehicle-safety question, then the examiner joins you for the road section, with one show-me question while you drive. 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 one in seven 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 DVSA marking nationally, the fault recorded most often on car tests 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; 58.1% of candidates at Birmingham (Shirley) currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
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How does Birmingham (Shirley) compare to the UK average?
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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.
DVSA data period: 2024-25.