Kendal Driving Test Centre Pass Rate 2024-25

#Where Kendal sits in the national rankings

DVSA data for 2024-25 covers 327 car test centres across Great Britain. Among the 263 centres that meet the minimum sample threshold of 1,000 tests in the latest year, Kendal (Oxenholme Road) at 64.8% ranks second, behind Dorchester in Dorset at 66.7%. Chichester in West Sussex follows at 64.2%. All three are rural or market-town centres with quieter route profiles than large urban sites. Smaller centres including Lerwick on Shetland (67.4% over three years, fewer than 1,000 single-year tests) show even higher rates, but they fall below the minimum sample threshold for a like-for-like comparison.

The first-time pass rate at Kendal in 2024-25 is 68.5%, based on 1,230 first-attempt tests with 842 passing. This is 3.7 percentage points higher than the overall pass rate of 64.8%. At most centres the overall rate sits above the first-time figure because retakers bring additional test experience. At Kendal the pattern is the opposite: first-time candidates outperform retakers by a meaningful margin, which suggests first-timers at this centre arrive well prepared and that the Kendal route environment suits candidates who have built their skills in similar rural and semi-rural conditions.

#Kendal against nearby Cumbria and Lancashire centres

Kendal sits in a region where test centres are spread over considerable distances. Heysham, the nearest centre with 2024-25 data, is 19.1 miles away and returned 55.0% on 3,735 tests. Barrow-in-Furness at 23.5 miles came in at 61.9% on 1,735 tests, which is strong but still 2.9 percentage points below Kendal. Preston, further south at around 38 miles, returned 53.7% on 11,380 tests. The Kendal advantage over all nearby centres reflects both the character of the local road network and the relatively low traffic volumes that are a structural feature of South Lakeland.

#Ten-year pass rate history at Kendal: 2015-16 to 2024-25

The published DVSA data for Kendal (Oxenholme Road) covers ten years from 2015-16 to 2024-25, excluding the pandemic year. The centre has never fallen below 62.6% in any recorded year, a floor that most other English centres would rank as a ceiling. The range across the dataset is from 62.6% (2017-18) to 68.3% (2022-23), a span of just 5.7 percentage points. By comparison, many urban centres have swung by 10 to 20 percentage points over the same period.

The 2022-23 figure of 68.3% on 1,695 tests is the highest single-year result recorded for Kendal in the dataset and represents a standout year even by this centre's own elevated standards. The reduction in test volume from 2,171 in 2019-20 to 1,695 in 2022-23 is likely a factor: a smaller pool of tests in a single year can produce more variable results. The 2023-24 and 2024-25 figures of 64.8% on higher volumes of over 2,000 tests each provide a more stable estimate of the underlying pass rate.

#Male and female pass rates at Kendal

Male candidates at Kendal passed at 64.0% in 2024-25, based on 1,264 tests with 809 passing. Female candidates passed at 66.0% on 885 tests with 584 passing. This gives a gender gap of 2.0 percentage points in favour of female candidates, again the reverse of the national pattern (men 49.5%, women 47.6% nationally in 2024-25). Both male and female candidates at Kendal perform above their respective national averages by a large margin, and both are above the UK average in every recorded year.

#Why Kendal consistently posts high pass rates

The structural advantage of Kendal is straightforward. The centre sits in Kendal, a market town of around 28,000 people in South Lakeland, Cumbria. The road network surrounding the test centre is dominated by A-roads and B-roads carrying moderate traffic, with limited multi-lane junctions and no motorway infrastructure within typical test-route distance. The town-centre streets are manageable in volume compared with any large English city, and the surrounding rural roads provide straightforward stretches where candidates can demonstrate safe speed management without the pressure of dense urban traffic.

This does not make the Kendal test easy by any means. One in three candidates still fails. Rural routes introduce their own challenges: variable road surface quality, narrow sections with limited passing places, unexpected agricultural vehicles, and the absence of road markings and controlled crossings that candidates may rely on for orientation. Candidates who have learned primarily in urban environments and then travel to Kendal to attempt an easier test without practising the local roads first are likely to find the rural sections more demanding than expected.

#Preparing for your test at Kendal

At 64.8%, a third of candidates at Kendal still do not pass, and the DVSA marking standard is identical at every centre. The relatively quiet route environment is an advantage, but local preparation remains essential. Candidates who travel to Kendal without practising the specific roads around the centre trade one type of difficulty for another.

#Booking and what to expect at Kendal

Bookings are made through the DVSA online booking service on gov.uk. The Kendal centre is formally listed as Kendal (Oxenholme Road). Slot availability at smaller centres like Kendal can be more limited than at large urban sites, so booking well in advance is advisable. The DVSA booking rule changes introduced in May 2026 restrict changes within 10 days of a booked test, so aim to book far enough ahead to allow time for final preparation.

The practical test follows the standard DVSA format: an eyesight check, one vehicle safety question, approximately 40 minutes of driving including the independent section and one standard manoeuvre, and an emergency stop on around one in every seven tests. The rural roads around Kendal mean that the route may include sections with no street lighting, variable surface conditions and stretches where the candidate must set their own speed rather than following traffic flow.

#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)
• Theory test (gov.uk)
• Apply for your first provisional driving licence (gov.uk)
• Driving eyesight rules (gov.uk)
• Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk)