Carlisle Driving Test Centre
The Carlisle driving test centre is located in Carlisle, 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
25.4K passed, 21.9K failed, 47.3K total
How Carlisle compares
Carlisle 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 Carlisle 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 Carlisle have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is achievable but not immediate: learners booking at Carlisle typically wait around 14 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
Carlisle is the DVSA car test centre in Carlisle, Cumberland. Examiners use a small set of fixed routes built around the roads immediately surrounding the centre. 47.3K tests across 2017-18-2024-25. That's a working sample, enough to take the pass rate at face value but not so large that a single quiet quarter passes unnoticed.
Rank: #103 of 323. Pass rate: 54.9%. UK average: 48.7%. That's a upper half centre by the DVSA's own published figures. First-attempt pass rate at Carlisle: 53.4%, against 49% nationally. That's a 4.4-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 Carlisle
- Don't read a higher pass rate as a softer test. Carlisle's rate reflects route geography more than examiner discretion, DVSA marking is centrally trained. Prepare for the same fault categories you'd prepare for anywhere.
- Practising the test routes is the single thing that most reliably moves a candidate's pass odds. Most ADI instructors in Carlisle will have a working knowledge of which routes Carlisle uses.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Carlisle. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Carlisle
Ten minutes early is the right target at Carlisle. Parking differs between DVSA centres, so it pays to scout the route on the DVSA centre finder the day before. This centre sees high demand, modelled at roughly 14 weeks to a slot; booking well ahead and watching for cancellations both help. Bring the provisional photocard licence, the examiner checks for it first, and make sure your car is roadworthy with L plates and a working interior mirror. If Carlisle is fully booked, Carlisle is the next closest centre, roughly 1 mile away.
The test runs for around 40 minutes and follows the same DVSA format used at every centre. The examiner checks your eyesight at 20 metres, asks one show-me and one tell-me question, then sits in for the drive. About 20 minutes of it is independent driving, either following a sat nav the examiner sets up or following road signs to a named place. You will do one of four set manoeuvres, and roughly one in three candidates is asked to perform 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.
You find out there and then, back at Carlisle. 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; 54.9% of candidates here manage it on the current marking.
Frequently asked questions
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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.