Featherstone Driving Test Centre
Featherstone posts a 34.1% pass rate, with Pontefract the nearest alternative about 2 miles away. Read on for its full DVSA history, first-time pass rate, waiting time and demographic breakdown.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Featherstone sits in the bottom quarter of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 1%, rank #322 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Barnsley, about 10.0 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 29.0K passed, 47.5K failed, 76.5K total
How Featherstone compares
Featherstone trails the national average by 14.6 points and is ranked 322 of 323 in its category. Deficits this size almost always mean demanding urban routes: multi-lane roundabouts, heavy traffic and tight manoeuvring.
Where Featherstone ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Across the recorded years Featherstone has drifted from 40.2% to 34.1%, down 6.1 points, with the best year at 40.2% in 2017-18.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Featherstone
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Featherstone in May 2026 had waited 6.9 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 Featherstone
- car
- 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 WV10 7JD, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Of the DVSA car centres across England, Featherstone is the one covering Featherstone, West Yorkshire. The routes are built around the roads the centre's examiners can reach inside the test's time budget. The DVSA has logged 76.5K tests at this centre over 2017-18-2024-25. At that scale, the year-on-year shifts you see in the chart correspond to genuine changes in how the centre is performing, not statistical wobble.
If you've been told Featherstone is "an easy centre" or "a hard one", the data won't fully back that. 34.1% is 14.6 points below the UK car average of 48.7%, which is rank #322 out of 323. Featherstone is one of the tougher venues for a first attempt. The DVSA reports 32.6% first-time pass against a UK average of 49%, 16.4 points down on the national figure.
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 Featherstone
- A lower pass rate at Featherstone usually means specific local junctions or road types that catch out candidates trained elsewhere. Book local-area familiarisation lessons with an instructor who works this centre, not one who covers a different patch.
- 32.6% first-time pass at Featherstone means roughly 7 in ten first-timers fail and rebook. Plan for that possibility: keep your insurance going, don't return the L-plates after the test.
- Volume at Featherstone 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.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Featherstone area. Local instructors know which nearby junctions are demanding and will drill them.
- If you missed the earlier slots at Featherstone, cancellations appear on the official DVSA booking service throughout the day. Check at off-peak times (early morning, late evening) for the best chance of catching one.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Featherstone
Turn up at Featherstone ten minutes before your appointment, and check ahead where you can park, DVSA sites vary on that. You can preview the location on the DVSA centre finder. Demand is high and waits are near 16 to 20 weeks, so an early booking plus a cancellation watch is the sensible approach. The examiner will ask to see your provisional photocard licence before anything else, and your car must carry L plates and a working interior mirror. If Pontefract is fully booked, Featherstone is the next closest centre, roughly 2 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 34.1% of candidates at Featherstone meet under current DVSA 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.