Preston Driving Test Centre
The Preston driving test centre is located in Preston, England. 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
73.8K passed, 66.6K failed, 140.3K total
How Preston compares
Preston performs notably better than the UK average. This often correlates with rural or suburban routes that have fewer multi-lane roundabouts and complex urban scenarios.
Where Preston ranks among 323 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 Preston have been lengthening as demand outpaces examiner capacity. Booking requires patience: learners booking at Preston typically wait around 20 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
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Preston
- car
- 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 PR2 2PD, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Preston is in Preston, Lancashire and runs DVSA car tests for learners across the local area. The routes are the same fixed set every day; your examiner picks one without telling you which. Preston runs at high cadence: 140.3K 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, Preston ranks 117, which lands it in the upper half nationally. The 53.7% pass rate is 5 points clear of the UK figure of 48.7%. 53.8% of first-timers pass at Preston, 4.8 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 Preston
- Preston 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.
- Preston is a high-volume centre. Booking pressure is real, check the DVSA cancellation feed daily for earlier slots rather than relying on the headline available date.
- Ask any instructor working Preston 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 Preston. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Preston
Plan to arrive at Preston about ten minutes before your slot. Parking varies between DVSA centres, so check the route and the surrounding streets on the DVSA centre finder a day or two ahead. With demand running very high here and waits near 20 weeks, it is worth holding any earlier cancellation slot you are offered. Bring your provisional photocard licence; the examiner will not start without it, and you will need a roadworthy car with L plates and a working interior mirror. If Roadtrain (Essex) is fully booked, Preston is the next closest centre, roughly 4 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 show-me plus one tell-me question, after which the examiner rides along for the drive. 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-three 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 recent DVSA marking, the fault logged most often at this centre 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 53.7% of Preston's candidates reach right now.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Preston?
Is Preston an easy or hard test centre?
How does Preston compare to the UK average?
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When is the best time to book a test at Preston?
How do I book a test at Preston and what do I need?
How long is the wait for a driving test at Preston?
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.