Darlington driving test centre
North East, England · Yarm Road, Morton Palms, Darlington · DL1 4PX
Darlington at a glance
- Pass rate
- 47.1%
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Average wait
- 7.1 weeks
- June 2026
- Tests a year
- 12,183
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Slots still free
- 38.3%
- Of the 24-week booking window
How Darlington compares
Darlington passes 47.1% of car tests, which is 3 points below the 50.1% national average. The typical wait between booking and testing is 7.1 weeks, 5 weeks shorter than the national average of 12.1 weeks. It conducted 12,183 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026. In the most recent month DVSA has published, March 2026, the rate was 44.4% — a single month, so expect it to bounce around the annual figure.
Trends at Darlington
Pass rate
Mar 2026: 44.4%
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| 44.4% | |
| 44.6% | |
| 46.4% | |
| 45.5% | |
| 43.8% | |
| 46.4% | |
| 48% | |
| 50.1% | |
| 50.6% | |
| 51% | |
| 50.4% | |
| 51.7% |
Waiting time
Jun 2026: 7.1w
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Average wait |
|---|---|
| 7.1 weeks | |
| 6.7 weeks | |
| 6.4 weeks | |
| 5.7 weeks | |
| 4.9 weeks | |
| 5.6 weeks | |
| 6.3 weeks | |
| 6.4 weeks | |
| 6.9 weeks | |
| 6.3 weeks | |
| 5.9 weeks | |
| 7.1 weeks |
Tests conducted each month
Mar 2026: 1227
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Tests conducted |
|---|---|
| 1,227 | |
| 1,237 | |
| 1,199 | |
| 1,230 | |
| 1,191 | |
| 1,291 | |
| 1,164 | |
| 885 | |
| 1,005 | |
| 625 | |
| 564 | |
| 565 |
Year by year
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 12,183 | 5,740 | 47.1% |
| 2024-25 | 6,828 | 3,357 | 49.2% |
| 2023-24 | 6,944 | 3,825 | 55.1% |
| 2022-23 | 5,456 | 3,111 | 57% |
| 2021-22 | 3,317 | 1,823 | 55% |
| 2020-21 | 702 | 436 | 62.1% |
| 2019-20 | 3,337 | 1,718 | 51.5% |
| 2018-19 | 3,069 | 1,580 | 51.5% |
| 2017-18 | 3,740 | 1,839 | 49.2% |
| 2016-17 | 4,323 | 2,160 | 50% |
Where it is
Nearby test centres
There is no catchment area for the practical test — you can book at any of these instead.
- Middlesbrough
20 km away
47.7% pass · 11.9 weeks wait
- Northallerton
20 km away
60.4% pass · 7.9 weeks wait
- Chester
20 km away
47.3% pass · 11.1 weeks wait
- Durham
26 km away
53.2% pass · 12.6 weeks wait
- Hartlepool
26 km away
51% pass · 8.1 weeks wait
- Sevenoaks
41 km away
59% pass · 11.4 weeks wait
Everything on this page describes Darlington driving test centre. Figures come from the DVSA statistical data sets DRT122A and DRT122F, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Pass rates run to March 2026 and waiting times to June 2026. This page was last updated .
Practice makes perfect
Learn the Darlington test routes before you go
Driving Test Routes App UK maps the roads examiners actually use, across driving test centres in England, Scotland and Wales — so your practice hours go on the roundabouts and junctions that show up on the day.
- CarPlay
- Speed limit alerts
- Turn-by-turn routes
- Offline maps
