Durham Driving Test Centre
Durham posts a 49.6% pass rate, with Darlington the nearest alternative about 14 miles away. Read on for its full DVSA history, first-time pass rate, waiting time and demographic breakdown.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Durham sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 44%, rank #181 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Northallerton, about 25.8 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 53.7K passed, 40.0K failed, 93.7K total
How Durham compares
With a gap of under one point to the national average, Durham (ranked 181 of 323 in its category) neither helps nor hurts; treat any difference you have heard about as noise.
Where Durham ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
The longer arc at Durham points down: 59.6% in 2017-18 against 49.6% now, a 10-point slide, though 2021-22 showed what the routes allow at 62.5%.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Durham
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 20 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Durham in May 2026 had waited 14.1 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
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Durham
- car
- 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 DH7 8XL, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Drivers booked at Durham report to a DVSA centre in County Durham, North East. The car routes used here are drawn from the streets the centre's examiners drive every week, so the test reflects local conditions rather than a generic syllabus. Durham runs at high volume: 93.7K 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.
By raw pass rate Durham sits at 49.6%, with the DVSA's national car average over the same window running at 48.7%. The gap (within a point of the UK figure) places the centre at rank #181 of 323, inside the lower half of the country's car test centres. First-attempt pass rate: 49.9%, against the UK figure of 49%. Effectively level, the gap between candidates who pass first time at Durham 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 Durham
- Centre difficulty is roughly average at Durham. The same fault categories that fail candidates nationally (junctions, mirrors, observation) are what fail candidates here, in similar proportions.
- Volume at Durham 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 Durham 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.
- Book through the official DVSA service (gov.uk/book-driving-test). Third-party "fast-track" sites charge a premium for the same booking; the official DVSA booking service is free.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Durham
Plan to arrive at Durham about ten minutes before your slot. Parking varies between DVSA centres, so check the route and the surrounding streets on the DVSA centre finder a day or two ahead. With demand running high here and waits near 14 to 18 weeks, it is worth holding any earlier cancellation slot you are offered. Bring your provisional photocard licence; the examiner will not start without it, and you will need a roadworthy car with L plates and a working interior mirror. If Darlington is fully booked, Durham is the next closest centre, roughly 14 miles away.
The practical lasts about 40 minutes and uses the standard DVSA format nationwide. After an eyesight check at 20 metres and one show-me and one tell-me question, the examiner sits in for the drive. Roughly 20 minutes of that is independent driving, either following a sat nav set by the examiner or following road signs, and you will complete one of four set manoeuvres; about one in seven tests includes an emergency stop, a frequency the DVSA reduced in late 2025. 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 will know the result before you leave Durham. The examiner explains the faults marked on your DL25 feedback form and, if you have passed, takes the provisional licence so a full one can be posted out. The pass standard is fixed nationally, 15 driving faults maximum and zero serious or dangerous faults, and 49.6% of candidates here meet it under current DVSA marking.
Frequently asked questions
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Is Durham an easy or hard test centre?
How does Durham 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.