Test centre · Poole

Poole Driving Test Centre

A test from Poole can go out through Wimborne Minster, Stanley Green, Oakdale and Canford Heath, and on the roads between them.

53.4%

Pass rate in 2025-26, 3.4 points above Great Britain (50.0%). Every figure

On the map

Routes 10

DVSA does not publish test routes. These are shown for visualisation and practice only.

1234–56+ routes on the road

Road signs

Roundabout 70

Mini-roundabout 45

Emerging at a junction 4

Traffic lights 91

Bus lane merge 5

Buses only 4

One-way street 75

Turn banned 54

Compulsory turn 17

Pedestrian crossing 38

Signal-controlled crossing 89

Speed limit change 74

Road humps 13

Dual carriageway 13

Bridge 61

Crossroads 55

Slip road 18

Junction 280

Central reservation 3

Speed limit 65

School 82

Level crossing 3

Poole in DVSA's figures

DVSA figures for 2025-26, published 25 June 2026 · waiting time for July 2026, published 9 September 2026

Pass rate · 2025-26 · 53.4%

3.4 points above the Great Britain figure of 50.0% (the marker on the bar).

83rd highest of the 259 centres with 1,000 or more tests.

Tests taken: 10,375; 5,538 passed
First attempts: 53.0%; 2,888 of 5,450
Median wait: 7.1 weeks; tests taken in July 2026
Automatic: 45.1%; 2,054 tests
Manual: 55.4%; 8,321 tests
Women · men: 52.1% · 54.6%
Aged 17: 61.9%
Aged 17 to 25: 56.7%
Car tests start from: 4 - 20 Harwell Road, Nuffield Industrial Estate, Poole, BH17 0SA; 50.74106, -1.97566

Source: DVSA tables DRT122A, DRT122C, DRT122D, DRT122E, DRT122F, DRT121G. Manual is our arithmetic: all tests minus automatic. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources and notes

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Pass rate by year

Year	Pass rate	Tests	Passes	Against Great Britain
2025-26	53.4%	10,375	5,538	3.4 points above (50.0%)
2024-25	48.4%	9,639	4,669	0.3 points below (48.7%)
2023-24	47.7%	11,662	5,567	0.2 points below (47.9%)
2022-23	49.8%	11,221	5,592	1.4 points above (48.4%)
2021-22	54.1%	7,804	4,221	5.2 points above (48.9%)
2020-21	61.1%	2,286	1,396	11.3 points above (49.8%)
2019-20	52.8%	9,438	4,980	6.9 points above (45.9%)
2018-19	57.4%	4,615	2,647	–
2017-18	56.3%	3,952	2,224	–
2016-17	54.5%	6,481	3,534	–

DVSA table DRT122A, each financial year it publishes for this centre. Great Britain from DRT121G, which starts in January 2019, so a dash marks a year with no whole-year Great Britain figure to compare.

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Poole beside Great Britain and nearby centres

Centre	Pass rate	First attempts	Tests	Median wait	Distance
Poole	53.4%	53.0%	10,375	7.1 wks	–
Great Britain	50.0%	–	1,998,621	11.1 wks	–
Dorchester	69.0%	71.8%	4,353	10.9 wks	35.0 km
Salisbury	48.5%	48.3%	6,630	5.3 wks	39.1 km
Newport, Isle of Wight	54.1%	56.4%	3,616	8.9 wks	47.9 km
Yeovil	63.4%	64.1%	7,493	16.3 wks	53.1 km
Lee On The Solent	63.2%	65.5%	8,502	20.0 wks	54.9 km

Pass rates and tests for 2025-26; waits for tests taken in July 2026. A dash means DVSA publishes no figure we hold. Distances are straight lines between centres, and only centres with a page here are listed (find them from all test centres), so a centre we have not mapped yet may be nearer. You can book at any centre, but since 9 June 2026 a booked test can only be moved to one of the 3 centres nearest it, or back to the one you first booked (GOV.UK).

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Waiting times and booking

For tests taken at Poole in July 2026, the median wait between booking and the test was 7.1 weeks, against 11.1 weeks across Great Britain. DVSA estimated 24.0 weeks until at least one in ten appointments a week was free. These are a past month's figures; the dates you can book today are on GOV.UK.

DVSA cancelled 796 tests here in 2025-26, 7.7 for every 100 it conducted, most often for medical absence. These are DVSA's own cancellations; we have found no published figures for tests cancelled by candidates.

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Questions about Poole test centre

What is the pass rate at Poole driving test centre?

53.4% of driving tests at Poole were passes in 2025-26: 5,538 of 10,375, according to DVSA. That is 3.4 points above the Great Britain figure of 50.0%.

How many driving tests were taken at Poole in the latest year?

DVSA records 10,375 car driving tests at Poole in 2025-26, of which 5,538 were passed.

Is the first-time pass rate at Poole different?

For first attempts the pass rate was 53.0% (2,888 of 5,450) in 2025-26, against 53.4% for all attempts.

What is the waiting time for a driving test at Poole?

DVSA's median wait between booking and taking a test at Poole was 7.1 weeks for tests taken in July 2026. It is a month's figure, not today's: GOV.UK shows the dates you can book now.

Where exactly is Poole driving test centre?

Car tests start from 4 - 20 Harwell Road, Nuffield Industrial Estate, Poole, BH17 0SA. On a map it is at 50.74106, -1.97566.

Is there an official list of routes for Poole driving test centre?

No. DVSA stopped publishing test routes in October 2010, and they are still not published, so you cannot check them before your test. The drives on this page are for visualisation and practice only: they show the kind of roads a test from here can use.

How does Poole compare with nearby test centres?

In 2025-26 the pass rate at Poole was 53.4%. The nearest centres with a page here: Dorchester 69.0% (35.0 km away); Salisbury 48.5% (39.1 km away); Newport, Isle of Wight 54.1% (47.9 km away).

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Sources and notes

DRT122A: Car driving test pass rates by gender and month: test centres. Data to March 2026, published by DVSA 25 June 2026.
DRT122C: Car driving test pass rates by first driving attempt and gender, including zero faults: test centres. Data to March 2026, published by DVSA 25 June 2026.
DRT122D: Car driving test pass rates by age (17 to 25 year olds) and year: test centres. Data to March 2026, published by DVSA 25 June 2026.
DRT122E: Automatic car driving test pass rates by gender: test centres. Data to March 2026, published by DVSA 25 June 2026.
DRT122F: Car driving test waiting times and availability by driving test centre, January 2019 to date: Great Britain. Data to August 2026, published by DVSA 9 September 2026.
DRT121G: Car driving test waiting times and availability by country and region, January 2019 to date: Great Britain. Data to August 2026, published by DVSA 9 September 2026.

All from DVSA's driving test statistics, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Analysis by Driving Mastery; DVSA does not endorse it. A pass rate is not a measure of how hard a test centre is. It reflects who books there and how prepared they are, the mix of automatic and manual tests, and local road conditions, as well as anything about the centre itself. Manual figures are all tests minus automatic tests, which is our arithmetic rather than a DVSA figure. Waiting times are a median over the tests taken that month, not a quoted booking lead time.

Every centre's figures as CSV or JSON.

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