Orkney Driving Test Centre
The Orkney driving test centre is located in Orkney Islands, 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
92 passed, 21 failed, 113 total
How Orkney compares
Orkney 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 Orkney ranks among 194 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 Orkney have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is comparatively quick: learners booking at Orkney typically wait around 6 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 Orkney
- Motorcycle Module 2
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
Orkney is the DVSA motorcycle module 2 test centre in Orkney Islands. Examiners use a small set of fixed routes built around the roads immediately surrounding the centre. Only 113 tests sit on the record at Orkney for 2009-10-2012-13. That puts the centre in the tail of the volume distribution; treat any single-period rate as indicative, not definitive.
Rank: #19 of 194. Pass rate: 81.4%. UK average: 48.7%. That's a top decile centre by the DVSA's own published figures. DVSA doesn't break out first-attempt figures for Orkney in DRT122C, so the split between first-time and retake pass rates isn't published for this 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 Orkney
- Orkney passes higher than the UK average, but the marking sheet is identical to every other DVSA centre. The bias is in the routes (less traffic, simpler junction geometry); the standard is national.
- With 113 tests on record at Orkney, the per-quarter pass rates are noisy. The trend chart on this page is more informative than any specific number from a specific period.
- Ask any instructor working Orkney about the centre's "usual fails", they'll have two or three specific junctions or manoeuvres in mind. Practise those until they're automatic before your date.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Orkney. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Orkney
Aim to be at Orkney 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 6 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.
Plan for a drive of roughly 40 minutes, identical in structure to every other DVSA centre. First comes the 20-metre eyesight check and a pair of vehicle-safety questions, one show-me, one tell-me, then the examiner joins you for the road section. About 20 minutes is independent driving by sat nav or by following signs to a named target, you tackle one of four set manoeuvres, and around a third of candidates get 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.
There is no wait for the verdict, the examiner delivers it at the centre. They go over each fault recorded, hand you the DL25 feedback form, and on a pass retain your provisional licence so the full version arrives by post. To pass you need no more than 15 driving faults and not a single serious or dangerous one; 81.4% of candidates at Orkney currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Orkney?
Is Orkney an easy or hard test centre?
How does Orkney compare to the UK average?
How many tests are taken at Orkney each year?
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When is the best time to book a test at Orkney?
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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: 2012-13.