Banbury is 'one of the best places to learn to drive in England'

The car lease experts from Moneyshake used the last six to nine months’ statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to calculate pass rates and Banbury came eighth out of all test centres in the country.

“Getting behind the wheel and learning how to drive is one of life’s many milestones and taking your driving test can be a nerve-racking experience, with lots of factors taken into account as to whether you pass or fail,” said CEO Eben Lovatt. “Our study shows that nearly half of all learners fail their driving test on their first attempt.

“With long delays for driving tests across England, it is important to be as well prepared as possible to avoid having to wait potentially months for a second attempt. Ensure you have had enough lessons to feel confident driving, as well as practicing the mock test routes at your test centre.”

Some test routes are deemed trickier than others and the pandemic caused a huge backlog of driving tests.

The Moneyshake study used the most recent data from the DVSA to create a total driving test score for each test centre in England using four factors: pass rate percentage, first time pass rate percentage, number of cancelled tests and the wait time for getting a practical driving test.

Banbury’s final score was 31% above average. Out of the 4,547 tests conducted across the nine-month period analysed, the test centre had a 48.38% pass rate and a 57.42% first time pass rate. They also had 127 cancellations during this period as well as a short five week wait time for a driving test at the time of looking.

There are still massive delays across England for booking a driving test, with the study revealing that the average wait time for a test was over 19 weeks, with 48% of test centres having no tests available at the time of looking.

The study also revealed that the average pass rate for driving tests is 50.30%, with the average first time pass rate also just over half at 51.32% and the number of cancellations resulted in an average of 7.61% of all tests taken.

The ten best places to pass a test are in Chichester, Bristol, Barnstaple, Eastbourne, Poole, Nottingham, Chesterfield, Banbury, Kettering and Bradford.

The top driving centres scored above average on almost all factors, all having a short wait time for getting a driving test.

Among the worst places to learn to drive are Erith (outer London), Birmingham, Blackburn and Stoke on Trent, scoring low on numerous factors, including having no driving tests available or a very long wait time.

To find the pass rate percentage and first time pass rate percentage, the most recent nine month’s data (between April-December 2021) from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s car driving test data by test centre was used. Moneyshake is a car leasing comparison site.