Lerwick Driving Test Centre
The Lerwick driving test centre is located in Lerwick, Scotland. 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
130 passed, 59 failed, 189 total
How Lerwick compares
Lerwick 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 Lerwick 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 Lerwick have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is comparatively quick: learners booking at Lerwick typically wait around 5 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
Tests offered at Lerwick
- HGV/LGV
For other test types at this location, search the DVSA centre finder.
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
Lerwick is the DVSA hgv/lgv test centre in Lerwick, Shetland Islands. Examiners use a small set of fixed routes built around the roads immediately surrounding the centre. Small sample warning: 189 tests across 2014-15-2020-21. The headline rate on this page is the multi-year aggregate, which is the only version of the number worth trusting at this volume.
Rank: #33 of 152. Pass rate: 68.8%. UK average: 48.7%. That's a top quartile centre by the DVSA's own published figures. For Lerwick 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 Lerwick
- Above-average pass rate at Lerwick 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.
- With 189 tests on record at Lerwick, the per-quarter pass rates are noisy. The trend chart on this page is more informative than any specific number from a specific period.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Lerwick 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 Lerwick. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Lerwick
Ten minutes early is the right target at Lerwick. Parking differs between DVSA centres, so it pays to scout the route on the DVSA centre finder the day before. Demand sits at low with a modelled wait of about 5 weeks, which generally leaves more room to choose a date. Bring the provisional photocard licence, the examiner checks for it first, and make sure your car is roadworthy with L plates and a working interior mirror.
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.
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 68.8% of candidates at Lerwick meet under current DVSA 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 tests are taken at Lerwick 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: 2020-21.