Greenford Driving Test Centre Pass Rate 2024-25

#The 2024-25 result in context

At 40.5%, Greenford sits 8.2 percentage points below the UK national average of 48.7% for 2024-25. Among the 263 high-confidence car test centres nationally (those conducting at least 1,000 tests in the year), this places Greenford in approximately the bottom fifth. The 7,106 tests conducted give the headline figure enough statistical weight to reflect genuine centre conditions: the 95% confidence interval is roughly plus or minus 1.2 percentage points either side of 40.5%, so the below-average performance is not a product of small sample size.

40.5% is also, notably, the highest pass rate Greenford has recorded since at least 2017-18, the earliest year in the published DVSA open dataset. Prior years sat in the 37% to 39.5% range, with a low of 37.6% in 2018-19. The 2024-25 figure represents a modest but real improvement on the longer-run average. Whether this reflects changes to test routes, examiner staffing, or the broader candidate pool is not discernible from the published data alone.

#First-time candidates at Greenford

The first-time pass rate at Greenford in 2024-25 is 39.5%, based on 3,407 candidates sitting the practical test for the first time. The gap between the first-time rate (39.5%) and the overall rate (40.5%) is just 1.0 percentage point, which is unusually narrow. At most centres, the overall rate is several points higher than the first-time rate because retakers bring extra test experience and can focus on specific weaknesses. A narrow gap at Greenford suggests that retakers here are not gaining a large advantage on repeat attempts, possibly because the west London urban road network presents consistent challenges regardless of test experience.

#Pass rate by gender at Greenford

Male candidates at Greenford passed at 43.6% in 2024-25, based on 4,294 tests. Female candidates passed at 35.8%, based on 2,812 tests. The resulting gender gap of 7.8 percentage points is substantially wider than the national gap of approximately 2 percentage points. The volume of male tests is about 53% of all tests, so the split is not dramatically uneven, and the 7.8-point gap holds up statistically across a large sample. Zero-fault passes were rare across both groups: 31 candidates out of 7,106 (0.44% of all tests) completed the test with no driving faults recorded, 23 male and 8 female.

#Greenford's pass rate since 2017-18

Greenford's pass rate has remained consistently below the national average across every year in the published dataset. The lowest recorded point is 37.6% in 2018-19, when 7,837 tests were conducted. The centre returned 39.5% in 2019-20 (7,899 tests), dipped slightly during the COVID-disrupted 2020-21 year on a much smaller 1,564-test sample, then settled in the 37% to 38.5% range from 2021-22 through 2023-24. The 2024-25 figure of 40.5% is the first time the centre has cleared 40% since records began in this dataset. The long-run trend shows improvement but the gap to the national average remains substantial.

#How pass rates vary by month at Greenford

Monthly data for 2024-25 shows a noticeable seasonal swing. The lowest monthly pass rate was in May 2024 at 34.9%, across 766 tests. The highest was August 2024 at 45.5%, across 358 tests (a smaller sample, partly because examiner availability is lower in the summer holiday period). Autumn months settled in the 41% to 44% range. The monthly variation is meaningful: a candidate sitting in May faces a test environment roughly 10 percentage points harder than one sitting in August, though both face the same route complexity and examiner standards. The difference likely reflects candidate readiness across the year rather than changes in examiner behaviour.

#Nearby test centres with higher pass rates

For candidates in west London with flexibility on which centre they use, several nearby sites return substantially higher pass rates. Pinner, approximately 3.8 miles from Greenford, returned 50.3% in 2024-25 on a very large 14,672-test sample. That is 9.8 percentage points above Greenford. Isleworth (Fleming Way), about 5.6 miles away, returned 51.8% on 12,106 tests, an 11.3-point advantage. Mill Hill, 6.2 miles away, returned 51.1% on 8,688 tests. Hendon, 5.4 miles away, returned 49.5% on 11,608 tests. All four alternatives have large test volumes that make the pass rate comparisons statistically reliable, not just small-sample fluctuations.

#What the Greenford test route involves

Greenford (Horsenden Lane) is based in the London Borough of Ealing. Test routes from this centre typically cover Greenford town centre, Perivale, Northolt and surrounding residential and arterial roads. The A40 Western Avenue corridor, one of the major commuter routes into central London, runs just south of the centre. Candidates are likely to encounter multi-lane roundabouts (including the busy Greenford and Northolt roundabouts), traffic-light-controlled junctions with multiple filter lanes, and stretches of faster-moving dual carriageway. The area also includes dense residential streets around Greenford Broadway with on-street parking, requiring confident road positioning and observation.

The combination of high-speed A-road sections with slow, congested town centre roads means the test demands a wide range of driving skills across a short timeframe. Candidates who have primarily practised on quieter suburban routes or rural roads often find the volume and speed of traffic on Perivale and Northolt approaches more demanding than expected. The 8.2-point gap between Greenford and the national average is largely consistent with the road complexity at this site. Instructors familiar with the area tend to recommend building early confidence on the A40 slip roads and the major roundabout approaches before sitting the test.

#Preparation advice for Greenford candidates

#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)
• Find a driving test centre (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)