Ipswich Driving Test Centre
The Ipswich driving test centre is located in Ipswich, 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
11.0K passed, 4.7K failed, 15.7K total
How Ipswich compares
Ipswich 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 Ipswich 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 Ipswich have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is achievable but not immediate: learners booking at Ipswich 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
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Ipswich
- 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 IP3 9SW, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Ipswich is in Ipswich, Suffolk and runs DVSA hgv/lgv tests for learners across the local area. The routes are the same fixed set every day; your examiner picks one without telling you which. 15.7K 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.
Out of 152 UK hgv/lgv test centres, Ipswich ranks 31, which lands it in the top quarter nationally. The 83.3% pass rate is 34.6 points clear of the UK figure of 48.7%. For Ipswich the DVSA suppresses first-attempt figures in DRT122C. Smaller centres get rolled up; this is one of them. The overall pass rate above is the only published 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 Ipswich
- Above-average pass rate at Ipswich 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.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Ipswich routes. Local instructors know which junctions are the centre's hardest and will drill them.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Ipswich. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Ipswich
Aim to be at Ipswich 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 14 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.
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 Ipswich. 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; 83.3% of candidates here manage it on the current marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Ipswich?
Is Ipswich an easy or hard test centre?
How does Ipswich compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Ipswich each year?
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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.