Garretts Green Driving Test Centre Pass Rate 2026: 42% Explained

#Garretts Green pass rate: the 2024-25 figure

The current Garretts Green pass rate is 42.0%, based on 21,871 tests conducted in the 2024-25 DVSA statistical year. That is 6.7 percentage points below the UK national average of 48.7%. The first-time pass rate at the centre is 39.9%, compared with the national first-attempt figure of 48.9%. For context, Birmingham (Shirley) runs at 58.1% in the same period, giving a 16-point gap between the most challenging and most forgiving Birmingham centres. Garretts Green sits near the bottom of the Birmingham rankings, with only South Yardley (41.6%) coming in lower.

#How Garretts Green compares across Birmingham centres

Birmingham has five active car test centres with current-period data. The range is among the widest of any English city. Shirley, at the southern edge of the city, runs at 58.1% in 2024-25. Kings Heath sits in the middle at 47.0%. Kingstanding, the second-busiest Birmingham centre, comes in at 44.6% across 17,909 tests. South Yardley sits just below Garretts Green at 41.6%. The spread matters because all five centres operate under the same DVSA examiner training standard and the same marking rubric: the differences come entirely from route geography and traffic density.

#Why the Garretts Green pass rate is lower than the UK average

The root cause is the road network around the test centre, not the examiners. Garretts Green sits close to the A45 Coventry Road, one of the main arterial routes into Birmingham from the east. Test routes from the centre routinely include stretches of that corridor, where three-lane and four-lane carriageways, heavy goods vehicles, frequent bus stops, and dense residential side-turnings combine. Lane-choice decisions arrive quickly and the margin for hesitation is narrow: a slow decision at a multi-lane junction can block the lane behind, which is the kind of real-world consequence that moves a fault from minor to serious.

The Birmingham road network in the east of the city also features a high concentration of complex roundabouts, many of them multi-exit with lane markings that change between approaches. Garretts Green candidates encounter more of these per test than candidates at Shirley, whose routes mix quieter suburban B-roads with the occasional A-road stretch. That extra complexity per minute of driving is the mechanical explanation for the pass-rate gap. Garretts Green candidates are not less well-prepared on average; their preparation is simply tested against a harder road environment.

• A45 Coventry Road sections: four-lane carriageway with frequent right-turn offshoot roads and bus stops that demand early lane positioning and active speed discipline.
• Multi-lane roundabouts around the Sheldon and Yardley areas, where the correct approach lane is not always obvious from road markings alone and late decisions carry heavy consequences.
• Residential streets off the Coventry Road with parked cars on both sides and frequent pedestrian crossings, demanding slow-speed observation and accurate kerb-side positioning.
• Bus lanes active during morning and afternoon test slots: candidates must read the operational hours on the sign rather than assuming they are always active.
• Priority junctions with restricted sightlines in the older residential streets near the centre, where give-way lines are set back further from the main road than many learners expect.

#Male and female pass rates at Garretts Green

Men pass at 44.3% at Garretts Green (12,771 tests), women at 38.8% (9,100 tests), a 5.5-point gap in the 2024-25 data. The national male-female gap runs at about 4.6 points (50.9% male, 46.3% female). The Garretts Green gap is marginally wider than the national average, which reflects the route mix: multi-lane junctions and dual-carriageway sections tend to produce slightly wider gender differences across most UK centres, because the confidence-related faults that sit at the border of minor and serious occur more often on fast, complex roads than on quieter suburban routes.

#Should you book at Garretts Green or travel to Shirley?

The 16-point gap between Garretts Green (42.0%) and Shirley (58.1%) is large enough to move the expected-pass probability substantially. A candidate who has a realistic 50% chance at their local centre typically gains 8 to 12 percentage points by switching to a higher-pass-rate centre, provided they practise the new routes in advance. The key variable is route familiarity: booking Shirley and driving it for the first time on test day erases the pass-rate advantage. Unfamiliar roads produce the same hesitation faults that route complexity at Garretts Green does.

#Preparing specifically for Garretts Green

The preparation that moves pass rates at Garretts Green is mostly about multi-lane junction fluency and A-road lane discipline. Both of these improve faster from targeted sessions on the specific road types than from the same hours on quiet residential streets. A candidate who has done 45 hours mostly on back roads but none on the A45 or its feeder roundabouts will struggle at Garretts Green in ways that a candidate with 30 hours and five targeted on those specific roads will not.

• Multi-lane roundabout drills: practise the Sheldon roundabout, the Yardley Green roundabout, and the A45/B4128 junction. Know which lane feeds which exit before the test day, not on it.
• Bus-lane reading: check the hours signs actively. Several roads near the centre have part-time bus lanes. Get used to reading the hours shown rather than following the vehicle ahead.
• Junction observation on residential side roads: give-way lines in the streets off Coventry Road are set back further from the main road than they appear. Come fully to a stop and take a full head-turn before emerging.
• Speed discipline on 40 mph sections: A45 stretches are 40 mph. Candidates who let speed creep to 44 or 45 mph on an empty section and then correct late pick up a serious fault if another vehicle is present. Keep it consistent.
• Mirror checks before every lane change: the A45 has frequent multi-lane sections. Mirror, signal, mirror again, then move. The examiner records every lane change and every mirror check.

#Has the Garretts Green pass rate changed over time?

The four-year picture is essentially flat. The pass rate was 41.3% in 2021-22, 42.9% in 2022-23, 40.2% in 2023-24, and 42.0% in 2024-25. The range across those four years is about 2.7 percentage points, which falls within normal year-to-year statistical variation for a centre at this volume. There is no upward trend, but there is also no deterioration. Garretts Green has held at this level consistently, which reflects the stable road environment rather than any change in candidate preparation or examiner practice.

That stability also means the search interest for Garretts Green pass rates is not driven by a recent event or data spike. Users searching for the centre pass rate are mostly planning their booking, comparing it against Shirley or Kingstanding before committing. The audience is a decision-making one, not a panic-after-booking one. If you are reading this before booking, the data is unambiguous: Garretts Green is a harder centre than the Birmingham average, but it is the most convenient centre for east Birmingham learners and a reasonable choice if you prepare specifically for its routes.

#Sources and further reading

The figures, fees, and procedures referenced in this article are verifiable on the official gov.uk pages below. PassRates.uk is built on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s open data, published under the Open Government Licence.

• Driving test (gov.uk)
• Change or cancel your driving test (gov.uk)
• Become a lorry, bus or coach driver (gov.uk)
• Driving test and theory test data, cars (gov.uk)
• Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (gov.uk)
• Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk)