Lerwick Driving Test Centre
Lerwick in Lerwick currently passes 67.4% of tests, 18.7 points above the UK average of 48.7%. The sections below cover the year-by-year trend, who passes most often, how long learners wait, and how it stacks up against neighbouring centres.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Lerwick sits in the top 10% of UK car pass rates nationally (Top 5%, rank #16 of 323). No nearby car centre currently posts a higher pass rate.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 4.2K passed, 2.0K failed, 6.2K total
How Lerwick compares
A 18.7-point lead over the national figure puts Lerwick ranked 16 of 323 in its category. Gaps this large usually come from the roads, not the examiners: fewer complex junctions and lighter traffic on the local routes.
Where Lerwick ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Lerwick ends the series about where it started, yet the spread between 2020-21 (80.3%) and 2019-20 (64.9%) runs to 15.4 points; read a single year here with caution.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Lerwick
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Lerwick in May 2026 had waited 8 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
Drivers booked at Lerwick report to a DVSA centre in Lerwick, Shetland Islands. 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. 6.2K tests through 2017-18-2024-25 puts Lerwick in the comfortable middle of the volume distribution. The pass rate moves with real signal, not noise.
By raw pass rate Lerwick sits at 67.4%, with the DVSA's national car average over the same window running at 48.7%. The gap (18.7 points clear of the UK figure) places the centre at rank #16 of 323, inside the top ten percent of the country's car test centres. Across 760 first-attempt tests, Lerwick passes 67.5% of candidates, against 49% nationally. The centre is a relatively forgiving venue for a first booking, by the DVSA's own data.
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 Lerwick
- Lerwick passes higher than the UK average, but the marking sheet is identical to every other DVSA centre. The bias is in the local road mix (less traffic, simpler junction geometry); the standard is national.
- First-time pass rate of 67.5% at Lerwick is on the forgiving side. A well-prepared first booking has a reasonable shot; don't over-correct by booking a "practice" test you don't actually need.
- Practising the roads around the centre is the preparation that most reliably pays off. Most ADI instructors in Lerwick will know the road types and junctions learners commonly meet near the centre.
- 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 Lerwick
Aim to be at Lerwick 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. At low demand and about 4 to 8 weeks' wait, securing a convenient date here is usually less of a scramble. 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 Orkney is fully booked, Lerwick is the next closest centre, roughly 102 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 covers the local mix of road types within roughly a twenty-minute radius of the centre. 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 Lerwick. 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; 67.4% of candidates here manage it on the current marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Lerwick?
Is Lerwick an easy or hard test centre?
How does Lerwick compare to the UK average?
How many driving tests does Lerwick record?
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How long is the wait for a driving test at Lerwick?
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.