Bishops Stortford Driving Test Centre
The Bishops Stortford driving test centre is located in Hockerill, England (CM23 2TD). 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
53.4K passed, 61.0K failed, 114.5K total
How Bishops Stortford compares
Bishops Stortford sits close to the UK average pass rate.
Where Bishops Stortford 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 Bishops Stortford have been lengthening as demand outpaces examiner capacity. Booking requires patience: learners booking at Bishops Stortford typically wait around 20 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 Bishops Stortford
- car
- 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 CM23 3JQ, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Bishops Stortford sits in Hockerill, Hertfordshire, just inside the CM23 2TD postcode. It's a DVSA-run car test centre, and the routes from here work outward into the streets and arterial roads that learners from Hockerill tend to know already. By volume, Bishops Stortford is at the upper end of the DVSA's network. With 114.5K tests across 2017-18-2024-25, the figures on this page are about as statistically settled as DVSA data gets.
50.4% at Bishops Stortford, against a UK car average of 48.7%. That puts the centre 1.7 points above the national figure and ranks it #167 of 323 car centres in the DVSA's network. The first-time pass figure here is 49.4%, which lines up almost exactly with the UK average of 49%. If you're a first-timer, the centre is neither lucky nor unlucky ground, it's 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 Bishops Stortford
- Centre difficulty is roughly average at Bishops Stortford. The same fault categories that fail candidates nationally (junctions, mirrors, observation) are what fail candidates here, in similar proportions.
- Bishops Stortford is a high-volume centre. Booking pressure is real, check the DVSA cancellation feed daily for earlier slots rather than relying on the headline available date.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Bishops Stortford 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 Bishops Stortford
Give yourself ten minutes in hand when you head to Bishops Stortford, and look up where to park beforehand, facilities differ from one DVSA site to the next. The DVSA centre finder (postcode CM23 2TD) shows the exact location. This is a very high-demand centre, modelled at roughly 20 weeks to a slot, so book as far ahead as you can and keep an eye on cancellations. You must have your provisional photocard licence on you, plus a car with L plates and a working interior mirror for the examiner. If Loughton (London) is fully booked, Bishops Stortford is the next closest centre, roughly 16 miles away.
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 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.
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; 50.4% of candidates at Bishops Stortford currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Bishops Stortford?
Is Bishops Stortford an easy or hard test centre?
How does Bishops Stortford compare to the UK average?
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Which driving test centres are near Bishops Stortford?
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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.