Bradford (Heaton) Driving Test Centre
Bradford (Heaton) posts a 49.5% pass rate, with Heckmondwike the nearest alternative about 7 miles away. Read on for its full DVSA history, first-time pass rate, waiting time and demographic breakdown.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Bradford (Heaton) sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 42%, rank #187 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Horsforth, about 5.5 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 51.7K passed, 82.2K failed, 133.9K total
How Bradford (Heaton) compares
Statistically Bradford (Heaton) is about as neutral as a venue gets, under a point from the national average and ranked 187 of 323 in its category. Preparation, not postcode, decides the outcome here.
Where Bradford (Heaton) ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
The direction of travel here is upward: Bradford (Heaton) has added 7.6 points since 2017-18, from 41.9% to 49.5%, with its strongest year at 52.1% in 2023-24.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Bradford (Heaton)
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 18.3 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Bradford (Heaton) in May 2026 had waited 7.4 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 Bradford (Heaton)
- 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 BD3 7AY, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Bradford (Heaton) sits in Bradford, West Yorkshire, just inside the BD1 1PH 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 Bradford tend to know already. If you're cross-checking this pass rate against other sources, the sample size matters. 133.9K 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.
49.5% at Bradford (Heaton), against a UK car average of 48.7%. That puts the centre within a point of the national figure and ranks it #187 of 323 car centres in the DVSA's network. First-attempt pass rate: 47.3%, against the UK figure of 49%. Effectively level, the gap between candidates who pass first time at Bradford (Heaton) and those who pass first time nationally is preparation, not the centre.
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 Bradford (Heaton)
- Pass rate at Bradford (Heaton) sits close to the UK average. Prepare for an ordinary level of difficulty: examiners apply the standard DVSA marking sheet, and the routes are a representative mix of local conditions.
- Volume at Bradford (Heaton) 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.
- Ask any instructor working Bradford (Heaton) 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.
- 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 Bradford (Heaton)
Arrive at Bradford (Heaton) 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 (postcode BD1 1PH) maps the centre and its surroundings. With high demand and waits near 16 to 20 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. If Heckmondwike is fully booked, Bradford (Heaton) is the next closest centre, roughly 7 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 tell-me question, after which the examiner rides along for the drive and asks one show-me question on the move. 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-seven chance of 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.
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 49.5% of candidates at Bradford (Heaton) meet under current DVSA marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Bradford (Heaton)?
Is Bradford (Heaton) an easy or hard test centre?
How does Bradford (Heaton) 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.
Edited by Vikas. DVSA data period: 2024-25.