Worthing Driving Test Centre
Worthing in Worthing currently passes 58.8% of tests, 10.1 points above the UK average of 48.7%. The sections below cover the year-by-year trend, who passes most often, how long learners wait, and how it stacks up against neighbouring centres.
DVSA data last updated September 2026
Worthing sits in the top quarter of car pass rates nationally (Top 20%, rank #64 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Chichester, about 17.9 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 38.9K passed, 36.0K failed, 74.9K total
How Worthing compares
A 10.1-point lead over the national figure puts Worthing ranked 64 of 323 in its category. Gaps this large usually come from the roads, not the examiners: fewer complex junctions and lighter traffic on the local routes.
Where Worthing ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
The direction of travel here is upward: Worthing has added 8.9 points since 2011-12, from 49.9% to 58.8%, with its strongest year at 58.8% in 2024-25.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Worthing
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Worthing in August 2026 had waited 10.1 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 Worthing
- Car
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 BN13 1NP, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Worthing is one of the DVSA's car test sites in England, located in Worthing, West Sussex. The choice of routes reflects the local mix of road types rather than any standard national template. The DVSA has logged 74.9K tests at this centre over 2011-12-2024-25. 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.
Worthing passes higher than most. At 58.8% versus a UK average of 48.7%, it ranks #64 of 323 car centres, the top quarter of the network. 58.9% of first-timers pass at Worthing, 9.9 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 Worthing
- Above-average pass rate at Worthing doesn't mean above-average ease. The fundamentals examiners mark are the same nationally: junctions, mirrors, observation, signal timing. A 65%+ pass rate means more candidates clear those, not that the bar is lower.
- 58.9% of first-timers pass at Worthing, so the centre is on the forgiving side. If your instructor is signing you off as test-ready, your own preparation matters far more than the venue.
- Worthing 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.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Worthing area. Local instructors know which nearby junctions are demanding and will drill them.
- If you missed the earlier slots at Worthing, cancellations appear on the official DVSA booking service throughout the day. Check at off-peak times (early morning, late evening) for the best chance of catching one.
Whether you pass at Worthing is not decided by the centre. It is decided by the 15 things an examiner can mark you on, and control, steering is one of the ones that ends attempts early.
DVSA publishes all 21 vehicle safety questions in advance, 14 tell me and 7 show me. You get 2 of them on the day, one at the roadside and one while you are driving. Get one wrong or both wrong and it counts as one driving fault, not two.
Look further ahead. Practise pull-push on a quiet residential loop with a continuous commentary. never steer while stationary; always inch forward first. 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 Worthing 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.
Sign shapes and colours, road markings and what each one tells you to do. 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 Worthing
Give yourself ten minutes in hand when you head to Worthing, and look up where to park beforehand, facilities differ from one DVSA site to the next. The DVSA centre finder shows the exact location. This is a very high-demand centre, modelled at roughly 20 to 24 weeks to a slot, so book as far ahead as you can and keep an eye on cancellations. You must have your provisional photocard licence on you, plus a car with L plates and a working interior mirror for the examiner. If Burgess Hill is fully booked, Worthing is the next closest centre, roughly 14 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.
Results come immediately on return to the centre. The examiner talks you through any faults marked, prints the DL25 feedback form, and (if you passed) takes your provisional licence so the full one can be issued by post. A pass needs no more than 15 driving faults and zero serious or dangerous faults, the standard 58.8% of candidates at Worthing meet under current DVSA marking.
Frequently asked questions
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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.