Nelson driving test centre
North West, England · Hardy Close, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston · PR2 2XP
Nelson at a glance
- Pass rate
- 51.7%
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Average wait
- 18 weeks
- June 2026
- Tests a year
- 5,955
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Slots still free
- 11.6%
- Of the 24-week booking window
How Nelson compares
Nelson passes 51.7% of car tests, which is 1.6 points above the 50.1% national average. The typical wait between booking and testing is 18 weeks, 5.9 weeks longer than the national average of 12.1 weeks. It conducted 5,955 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026. In the most recent month DVSA has published, March 2026, the rate was 54.2% — a single month, so expect it to bounce around the annual figure.
Trends at Nelson
Pass rate
Mar 2026: 54.2%
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| 54.2% | |
| 48.7% | |
| 54.1% | |
| 53.5% | |
| 56.7% | |
| 50.8% | |
| 55.5% | |
| 51.2% | |
| 46% | |
| 49.6% | |
| 46% | |
| 51.6% |
Waiting time
Jun 2026: 18.0w
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Average wait |
|---|---|
| 18 weeks | |
| 12 weeks | |
| 14.4 weeks | |
| 9.1 weeks | |
| 19 weeks | |
| 16.9 weeks | |
| 14.7 weeks | |
| 7.6 weeks | |
| 5.2 weeks | |
| 10.1 weeks | |
| 6.1 weeks | |
| 4.7 weeks |
Tests conducted each month
Mar 2026: 679
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Tests conducted |
|---|---|
| 679 | |
| 559 | |
| 499 | |
| 493 | |
| 600 | |
| 630 | |
| 463 | |
| 346 | |
| 450 | |
| 456 | |
| 398 | |
| 382 |
Year by year
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 5,955 | 3,081 | 51.7% |
| 2024-25 | 6,366 | 3,050 | 47.9% |
| 2023-24 | 5,845 | 2,902 | 49.6% |
| 2022-23 | 4,833 | 2,625 | 54.3% |
| 2021-22 | 4,485 | 2,533 | 56.5% |
| 2020-21 | 1,120 | 605 | 54% |
| 2019-20 | 5,437 | 2,616 | 48.1% |
| 2018-19 | 5,291 | 2,654 | 50.2% |
| 2017-18 | 5,432 | 2,891 | 53.2% |
| 2016-17 | 5,780 | 3,103 | 53.7% |
Where it is
Nearby test centres
There is no catchment area for the practical test — you can book at any of these instead.
- Preston
0 km away
56.3% pass · 14.6 weeks wait
- Blackburn with Darwen
14 km away
46.6% pass · 9.4 weeks wait
- Chorley
14 km away
52.8% pass · 11.1 weeks wait
- Southport (Liverpool)
15 km away
56.5% pass · 15.3 weeks wait
- Blackpool
16 km away
51.8% pass · 8.9 weeks wait
- Atherton (Manchester)
30 km away
44.3% pass · 12.1 weeks wait
Everything on this page describes Nelson 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 Nelson 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
