There are long waits for driving tests at test centres right across the country

Learner drivers can expect to wait six months for their driving test at most test centres in Britain, an exclusive Reach Data Unit investigation has found.

More than half (53 percent) of driving test centres have average waiting times of 24 weeks for car practical tests. That’s a total of 170 of Great Britain’s 319 test centres.

Meanwhile, another 13 percent of centres (43 in total) have average waits of between 21 and 24 weeks, meaning two-thirds of learner drivers can expect to have to wait at least three months for their practical test.

The figures have become available thanks to Freedom of Information requests to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) by the Reach Data Unit. Only six driving test centres in the whole country have an average waiting time of six weeks or less, which works out as two percent of test centres.

Now, using our interactive map, learners can see the average waiting time at their local test centre.

In Cambridgeshire, both the Cambridge (Brookmount Court) and Peterborough test centres have an average wait of 24 weeks, which is equivalent to six months.

There are some encouraging signs for learner drivers, however. The data obtained via FOI shows that the number of centres with waits of 24 weeks is actually falling.

Back in November, a total of 245 centres, 77 percent of the total, had average waits of six months. That’s down to 53 percent now. A massive 80 percent of centres had average waits of at least 21 weeks, down to 66 percent now.

A DVSA spokesperson said: “DVSA is taking decisive action to reduce driving test waiting times by making more tests available. While there’s still a long way to go, we have conducted over 123,000 extra tests since June 2025.

“We are also using military driving examiners to support our efforts to supply more tests and following our recent consultation, we’re working at pace to implement the technical changes to the driving test booking system – including introducing limits on changes that can be made to a test, allowing only the learner driver to book a test.”

There are regional differences in driving test waiting times. Wales has the lowest average wait in the country at 17.0 weeks per test centre. In Yorkshire and the Humber, that rises to 18.5 weeks.

In Scotland, the average is 19.1 weeks, in the North East it’s 19.4, and in the South East, 20.5 weeks. The South West has average waits of 20.8 weeks, the North West 21.0 weeks, the West Midlands 21.7 weeks, the East of England 22.2 weeks, the East Midlands 22.9 weeks, and London 23.0 weeks.