Darlington LGV Driving Test Centre
The Darlington LGV driving test centre is located in Morton Palms, England (DL1 4BS). 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
11.6K passed, 9.2K failed, 20.8K total
How Darlington LGV compares
Darlington LGV performs well above the UK average. Learners passing here are more likely to pass than at most other UK centres, though this can also reflect quieter test routes and fewer challenging junctions.
Where Darlington LGV ranks among 152 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 Darlington LGV have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is achievable but not immediate: learners booking at Darlington LGV typically wait around 10 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 Darlington LGV
- car
- motorcycle module 1 (off-road)
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- lorry and bus
- ADI part 2
- 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 DL1 4PW, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Darlington LGV sits in Morton Palms, Tees Valley, just inside the DL1 4BS postcode. It's a DVSA-run hgv/lgv test centre, and the routes from here work outward into the streets and arterial roads that learners from Morton Palms tend to know already. Across 2016-17-2023-24 the DVSA recorded 20.8K tests at Darlington LGV. A solid mid-range sample, the data is reliable enough that the rank position below isn't an artefact of small numbers.
60.5% at Darlington LGV, against a UK hgv/lgv average of 48.7%. That puts the centre 11.8 points clear of the national figure and ranks it #96 of 152 hgv/lgv centres in the DVSA's network. First-attempt data for Darlington LGV is missing from the DVSA's DRT122C release. It's not a low number, it's no number, the centre is small enough that DVSA omits it from that particular table.
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 Darlington LGV
- Above-average pass rate at Darlington LGV 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.
- Ask any instructor working Darlington LGV 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 Darlington LGV
Give yourself ten minutes in hand when you head to Darlington LGV, and look up where to park beforehand, facilities differ from one DVSA site to the next. The DVSA centre finder (postcode DL1 4BS) shows the exact location. Modelled waits here sit around 10 weeks at moderate demand, which tends to mean less competition for a date that suits you. You must have your provisional photocard licence on you, plus a car with L plates and a working interior mirror for the examiner.
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 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.
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; 60.5% of candidates at Darlington LGV currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Darlington LGV?
Is Darlington LGV an easy or hard test centre?
How does Darlington LGV compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Darlington LGV each year?
Which driving test centres are near Darlington LGV?
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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: 2023-24.