Wakefield Driving Test Centre
Wakefield in Wakefield records a 46.7% pass rate against a UK average of 48.7%, with a median wait of 5.7 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 July 2026
Wakefield sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 25%, rank #242 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Barnsley, about 9.0 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 40.0K passed, 48.0K failed, 88.0K total
How Wakefield compares
Wakefield is 2 points behind the national figure and ranked 242 of 323 in its category, a difference most candidates will not feel on the day.
Where Wakefield ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Wakefield has held a narrow 6.6-point range across the whole series (43.5% at the low in 2019-20, 50.1% at the high in 2022-23); what you see is what you get.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Wakefield
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 15.8 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Wakefield in May 2026 had waited 5.7 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 Wakefield
- car
- motorcycle module 1 (off-road)
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- 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 WF5 9TR, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Wakefield sits in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It's a DVSA-run car test centre, and the routes from here work outward into the streets and arterial roads that learners from Wakefield tend to know already. The DVSA has logged 88.0K tests at this centre over 2017-18-2024-25. At that scale, the year-on-year shifts you see in the chart correspond to genuine changes in how the centre is performing, not statistical wobble.
46.7% at Wakefield, against a UK car average of 48.7%. That puts the centre 2 points below the national figure and ranks it #242 of 323 car centres in the DVSA's network. The first-time pass figure here is 47.3%, 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 Wakefield
- Centre difficulty is roughly average at Wakefield. The same fault categories that fail candidates nationally (junctions, mirrors, observation) are what fail candidates here, in similar proportions.
- Volume at Wakefield 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.
- Practising the roads around the centre is the preparation that most reliably pays off. Most ADI instructors in Wakefield will know the road types and junctions learners commonly meet near the centre.
- 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 Wakefield
Arrive at Wakefield with about ten minutes to spare and know your parking options in advance, they vary site to site across the DVSA network. The DVSA centre finder maps the centre and its surroundings. With high demand and waits near 16 to 20 weeks, take any earlier slot the booking service offers rather than holding out. Don't set off without your provisional photocard licence; the test cannot start without it, and your car needs L plates and a working interior mirror. If Leeds is fully booked, Wakefield is the next closest centre, roughly 8 miles away.
The practical lasts about 40 minutes and uses the standard DVSA format nationwide. After an eyesight check at 20 metres and one show-me and one tell-me question, the examiner sits in for the drive. Roughly 20 minutes of that is independent driving, either following a sat nav set by the examiner or following road signs, and you will complete one of four set manoeuvres; about one in seven tests includes an emergency stop, a frequency the DVSA reduced in late 2025. 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 46.7% of Wakefield's candidates reach right now.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Wakefield?
Is Wakefield an easy or hard test centre?
How does Wakefield compare to the UK average?
How many driving tests does Wakefield record?
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How long is the wait for a driving test at Wakefield?
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.