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Preston driving test centre

North West, England · Hardy Close, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston · PR2 2XP

Preston at a glance

Pass rate
56.3%
April 2025 to March 2026
Average wait
14.6 weeks
June 2026
Tests a year
9,194
April 2025 to March 2026
Slots still free
4.2%
Of the 24-week booking window

How Preston compares

Preston passes 56.3% of car tests, which is 6.2 points above the 50.1% national average. The typical wait between booking and testing is 14.6 weeks, 2.5 weeks longer than the national average of 12.1 weeks. It conducted 9,194 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026. In the most recent month DVSA has published, March 2026, the rate was 57.4% — a single month, so expect it to bounce around the annual figure.

Trends at Preston

Pass rate

Mar 2026: 57.4%

49%55%61%GB averageApr 24Aug 24Dec 24Apr 25Aug 25Dec 25Mar 26
Show these figures as a table
Monthly car practical pass rate at Preston driving test centre, most recent 12 published months.
Month Pass rate
57.4%
56.1%
61.1%
56.9%
52.8%
59.2%
60%
58.5%
52%
58.8%
51.4%
51.9%

Waiting time

Jun 2026: 14.6w

11w16w21wGB averageJul 24Nov 24Mar 25Jul 25Nov 25Mar 26Jun 26
Show these figures as a table
Average wait in weeks between booking and taking a car test at Preston, most recent 12 published months.
Month Average wait
14.6 weeks
15.6 weeks
16.1 weeks
13.1 weeks
13.1 weeks
15.4 weeks
19.3 weeks
20.6 weeks
21.4 weeks
17 weeks
15.9 weeks
16.9 weeks

Tests conducted each month

Mar 2026: 894

6298711112Apr 24Aug 24Dec 24Apr 25Aug 25Dec 25Mar 26
Show these figures as a table
Car practical tests conducted each month at Preston, most recent 12 published months.
Month Tests conducted
894
847
812
619
722
647
633
781
895
868
805
671

Year by year

Car practical tests, passes and pass rate at Preston driving test centre by DVSA financial year (April to March).
Year Tests Passes Pass rate
2025-26 9,194 5,174 56.3%
2024-25 11,380 6,116 53.7%
2023-24 11,115 6,305 56.7%
2022-23 9,704 5,930 61.1%
2021-22 8,062 4,584 56.9%
2020-21 2,421 1,449 59.9%
2019-20 7,518 4,102 54.6%
2018-19 7,560 4,174 55.2%
2017-18 8,387 4,583 54.6%
2016-17 7,369 3,871 52.5%

Where it is

Nearby test centres

There is no catchment area for the practical test — you can book at any of these instead.

Everything on this page describes Preston 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 Preston 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
Download Driving Test Routes App UK on the App Store
Learner drivers holding UK photocard licences and green P plates after passing, beside Driving Test Routes App UK showing a mapped test route