Southend-on-Sea driving test centre
East of England, England
Southend-on-Sea at a glance
- Pass rate
- 47%
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Average wait
- 11 weeks
- June 2026
- Tests a year
- 7,526
- April 2025 to March 2026
- Slots still free
- 5.8%
- Of the 24-week booking window
How Southend-on-Sea compares
Southend-on-Sea passes 47% of car tests, which is 3.1 points below the 50.1% national average. The typical wait between booking and testing is 11 weeks, 1.1 weeks shorter than the national average of 12.1 weeks. It conducted 7,526 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026. In the most recent month DVSA has published, March 2026, the rate was 43.8% — a single month, so expect it to bounce around the annual figure.
The map below shows the Southend-on-Sea area rather than a pinpointed building. Confirm the exact address on your booking confirmation or via GOV.UK before you travel.
Trends at Southend-on-Sea
Pass rate
Mar 2026: 43.8%
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| 43.8% | |
| 49.2% | |
| 46.6% | |
| 44.5% | |
| 42.4% | |
| 50.9% | |
| 45.2% | |
| 41.5% | |
| 48.1% | |
| 49% | |
| 50% | |
| 53.2% |
Waiting time
Jun 2026: 11.0w
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Average wait |
|---|---|
| 11 weeks | |
| 7.6 weeks | |
| 7.7 weeks | |
| 14.3 weeks | |
| 13.3 weeks | |
| 9.3 weeks | |
| 5.3 weeks | |
| 6.7 weeks | |
| 10 weeks | |
| 11.1 weeks | |
| 14.4 weeks | |
| 9.4 weeks |
Tests conducted each month
Mar 2026: 802
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Tests conducted |
|---|---|
| 802 | |
| 669 | |
| 721 | |
| 638 | |
| 719 | |
| 740 | |
| 615 | |
| 390 | |
| 653 | |
| 567 | |
| 476 | |
| 536 |
Year by year
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 7,526 | 3,537 | 47% |
| 2024-25 | 4,797 | 2,308 | 48.1% |
| 2023-24 | 4,573 | 2,223 | 48.6% |
| 2022-23 | 4,307 | 2,202 | 51.1% |
| 2021-22 | 4,581 | 2,460 | 53.7% |
| 2020-21 | 1,201 | 670 | 55.8% |
| 2019-20 | 6,306 | 3,001 | 47.6% |
| 2018-19 | 6,825 | 3,115 | 45.6% |
| 2017-18 | 6,485 | 2,845 | 43.9% |
| 2016-17 | 6,639 | 2,835 | 42.7% |
Where it is
Nearby test centres
There is no catchment area for the practical test — you can book at any of these instead.
- Chelmsford
19 km away
55.4% pass · 12.5 weeks wait
- Gillingham
20 km away
56.4% pass · 9.3 weeks wait
- Tilbury
22 km away
50.4% pass · 8.1 weeks wait
- Hornchurch (London)
34 km away
46.3% pass · 19 weeks wait
- Herne Bay
34 km away
55.9% pass · 7.1 weeks wait
- Belvedere (London)
40 km away
40.5% pass · 9.9 weeks wait
Everything on this page describes Southend-on-Sea 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 Southend-on-Sea 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
