Lincoln Driving Test Centre
Lincoln in Lincoln records a 49.8% pass rate against a UK average of 48.7%, with a median wait of 17.1 weeks. This page covers the multi-year trend, the first-time and gender pass rates, and a like-for-like comparison with other centres.
DVSA data last updated September 2026
Lincoln sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 45%, rank #178 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Grantham (Somerby), about 22.3 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 43.4K passed, 43.5K failed, 87.0K total
How Lincoln compares
Lincoln sits 1.1 points above the UK average, ranked 178 of 323 in its category: close enough that centre choice matters far less than preparation.
Where Lincoln ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Lincoln has held a narrow 6.3-point range across the whole series (45.4% at the low in 2019-20, 51.7% at the high in 2021-22); what you see is what you get.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Lincoln
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Lincoln in August 2026 had waited 17.1 weeks from booking to test day.
Official DVSA data, August 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 Lincoln
- car
- motorcycle module 1 (off-road)
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- 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 LN6 3RT, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Lincoln is in Lincoln, Greater Lincolnshire and runs DVSA car tests for learners across the local area. Your examiner picks the route on the day without telling you which, and the DVSA does not publish them. Lincoln runs at high volume: 87.0K 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.
Out of 323 UK car test centres, Lincoln ranks 178, which lands it in the lower half nationally. The 49.8% pass rate is 1.1 points above the UK figure of 48.7%. 51.1% of first-timers pass at Lincoln, 2.1 points above the UK figure of 49%. A prepared first attempt has a real shot here in a way it doesn't at every 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 Lincoln
- Pass rate at Lincoln sits close to the UK average. Prepare for an ordinary level of difficulty: examiners apply the standard DVSA marking sheet, and the routes are a representative mix of local conditions.
- Volume at Lincoln 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 Lincoln area. Local instructors know which nearby junctions are demanding and will drill them.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Lincoln. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Whether you pass at Lincoln is not decided by the centre. It is decided by the 15 things an examiner can mark you on, and move off, safety is one of the ones that ends attempts early.
A fair amount of what goes wrong is settled before the engine starts: the documents, the car, the 2 vehicle safety questions and whichever habit you have not drilled, move off, safety being a common one. Working through it as a list beats remembering it in the car park.
Six-point check on every move-off: left mirror, centre mirror, right mirror, right shoulder, left shoulder, signal. Practise until the sequence is reflexive. Free to use, no sign up. Everything for the day itself is on the practical test hub.
Other test centres nearby
You cannot book a practical test at Lincoln until you hold a theory pass, and it has to still be valid on the day you sit it. Nationally 44.8% of candidates pass the theory.
Pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and the 2022 hierarchy of road users. All 14 DVSA topics are free to practise, with no sign up. See the theory pass rate by centre or the full practice hub.
On the day at Lincoln
Aim to be at Lincoln 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 16 to 20 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. If Grantham (Somerby) is fully booked, Lincoln is the next closest centre, roughly 22 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.
The result is given immediately when you get back. Whatever the outcome, the examiner reads through the marked faults and prints your DL25 feedback form; pass and they take the provisional licence to trigger your full one by post. The threshold is the national one, 15 driving faults at most and zero serious or dangerous, which 49.8% of Lincoln's candidates reach right now.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Lincoln?
Is Lincoln an easy or hard test centre?
How does Lincoln 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.
DVSA data period: 2024-25.