Cheltenham Driving Test Centre
Cheltenham posts a 46.7% pass rate, with Gloucester the nearest alternative about 10 miles away. Read on for its full DVSA history, first-time pass rate, waiting time and demographic breakdown.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Cheltenham sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 26%, rank #241 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Worcester, about 22.0 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 46.6K passed, 55.3K failed, 102.0K total
How Cheltenham compares
The 2-point gap at Cheltenham (ranked 241 of 323 in its category) is real but small; local route familiarity moves your odds more than the venue does.
Where Cheltenham ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Cheltenham has held a narrow 6.5-point range across the whole series (43.6% at the low in 2018-19, 50.1% at the high in 2021-22); what you see is what you get.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Cheltenham
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Cheltenham in May 2026 had waited 15.1 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
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
Cheltenham is in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 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. Cheltenham runs at high volume: 102.0K tests across 2017-18-2024-25 put it among the busier DVSA centres in the country. The headline numbers carry weight because the sample carries weight.
Out of 323 UK car test centres, Cheltenham ranks 241, which lands it in the lower half nationally. The 46.7% pass rate is 2 points below the UK figure of 48.7%. 46.9% of first-timers pass at Cheltenham, 2.1 points below the UK figure of 49%. If your booking is your first attempt, factor in a few lessons on the local test-area roads.
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 Cheltenham
- Cheltenham doesn't deviate much from the national curve, so generic preparation advice (mock tests, mirror discipline, junction observation) applies here in the same shape it would anywhere.
- Cheltenham 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.
- Ask any instructor working Cheltenham 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.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Cheltenham. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Cheltenham
Aim to be at Cheltenham 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 high and the modelled wait is close to 15 to 19 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 Gloucester is fully booked, Cheltenham is the next closest centre, roughly 10 miles 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 you a tell-me safety question, then sits in for the drive, with one show-me question while you are driving. 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 seven candidates is asked to perform 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.
You find out there and then, back at Cheltenham. 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; 46.7% 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.