Peterborough Driving Test Centre
At Peterborough, 50.2% of candidates pass, one of the 323 test centres we rank from the DVSA data. Below you will find the full pass-rate history, the demographic split, the official DVSA waiting time and a comparison with the nearest centres.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Peterborough sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 47%, rank #171 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Wellingborough, about 26.7 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 65.7K passed, 70.4K failed, 136.0K total
How Peterborough compares
Peterborough is 1.5 points ahead of the national figure and ranked 171 of 323 in its category, a difference most candidates will not feel on the day.
Where Peterborough ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
The series at Peterborough is remarkably flat, moving only from 49.2% (2017-18) to 50.2% now, with a total spread of 6.5 points.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Peterborough
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Peterborough in May 2026 had waited 7.4 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
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Peterborough
- 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 PE1 5XA, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Peterborough sits in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, just inside the PE1 1XH postcode. It's a DVSA-run car test centre, and the routes from here work outward into the streets and arterial roads that learners from Peterborough tend to know already. By volume, Peterborough is at the upper end of the DVSA's network. With 136.0K tests across 2017-18-2024-25, the figures on this page are about as statistically settled as DVSA data gets.
50.2% at Peterborough, against a UK car average of 48.7%. That puts the centre 1.5 points above the national figure and ranks it #171 of 323 car centres in the DVSA's network. The first-time pass figure here is 49.6%, which lines up almost exactly with the UK average of 49%. If you're a first-timer, the centre is neither lucky nor unlucky ground, it's average.
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 Peterborough
- Pass rate at Peterborough 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.
- Peterborough is a high-volume centre. Booking pressure is real, check the DVSA booking service daily for earlier slots rather than relying on the headline available date.
- Ask any instructor working Peterborough 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.
- The only legitimate booking route is gov.uk. Anything calling itself a "test booking concierge" is reselling the same slots at a markup, the slots aren't theirs to control.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Peterborough
Turn up at Peterborough ten minutes before your appointment, and check ahead where you can park, DVSA sites vary on that. You can preview the location on the DVSA centre finder (postcode PE1 1XH). Demand is very high and waits are near 18 to 22 weeks, so an early booking plus a cancellation watch is the sensible approach. The examiner will ask to see your provisional photocard licence before anything else, and your car must carry L plates and a working interior mirror. If Upton is fully booked, Peterborough is the next closest centre, roughly 5 miles away.
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 tell-me question to you, then accompanies the drive and asks one show-me question while you are driving. About 20 minutes is independent driving, sat nav or road signs to a named destination, with one of the set manoeuvres and an emergency stop on roughly one test in seven. 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.
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; 50.2% of candidates at Peterborough currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
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How does Peterborough 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.
Edited by Vikas. DVSA data period: 2024-25.