Test centre · Portsmouth

Portsmouth Driving Test Centre

A test from Portsmouth can go out through Paulsgrove, Port Solent, Wymering and Cosham, and on the roads between them.

52.8%

Pass rate in 2025-26, 2.8 points above Great Britain (50.0%). Every figure

On the map

Routes 5

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

1234–56+ routes on the road

Road signs

Roundabout 34

Mini-roundabout 7

Emerging at a junction 2

Traffic lights 47

Bus lane merge 4

Buses only 2

One-way street 49

Turn banned 43

Compulsory turn 5

Pedestrian crossing 10

Signal-controlled crossing 21

Speed limit change 20

Road humps 15

Dual carriageway 14

Bridge 23

Crossroads 28

Slip road 10

Junction 102

Central reservation 5

Speed limit 66

School 39

Level crossing 1

Portsmouth 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 · 52.8%

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

Joint 94th highest of the 259 centres with 1,000 or more tests.

Tests taken: 13,518; 7,141 passed
First attempts: 52.9%; 3,858 of 7,293
Median wait: 13.0 weeks; tests taken in July 2026
Automatic: 46.1%; 2,967 tests
Manual: 54.7%; 10,551 tests
Women · men: 51.9% · 53.6%
Aged 17: 62.4%
Aged 17 to 25: 57.4%
Car tests start from: Portsmouth Marriott Hotel, Southampton Road, Portsmouth, PO6 4SH; 50.84587, -1.09075

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	52.8%	13,518	7,141	2.8 points above (50.0%)
2024-25	51.8%	11,305	5,857	3.1 points above (48.7%)
2023-24	50.3%	11,237	5,655	2.4 points above (47.9%)
2022-23	48.2%	11,948	5,756	0.2 points below (48.4%)
2021-22	50.4%	10,234	5,160	1.5 points above (48.9%)
2020-21	53.3%	2,907	1,549	3.5 points above (49.8%)
2019-20	47.2%	7,747	3,655	1.3 points above (45.9%)
2018-19	44.5%	7,373	3,278	–
2017-18	44.6%	7,195	3,210	–
2016-17	43.8%	8,386	3,674	–
2015-16	40.4%	7,382	2,985	–
2014-15	39.8%	8,631	3,432	–
2013-14	42.6%	7,899	3,368	–
2012-13	44.8%	8,375	3,753	–
2011-12	46.6%	8,252	3,847	–
2010-11	47.9%	8,761	4,199	–
2009-10	46.5%	9,042	4,202	–
2008-09	46.9%	9,825	4,610	–
2007-08	45.8%	9,649	4,421	–

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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Portsmouth beside Great Britain and nearby centres

Centre	Pass rate	First attempts	Tests	Median wait	Distance
Portsmouth	52.8%	52.9%	13,518	13.0 wks	–
Great Britain	50.0%	–	1,998,621	11.1 wks	–
Lee On The Solent	63.2%	65.5%	8,502	20.0 wks	8.8 km
Newport, Isle of Wight	54.1%	56.4%	3,616	8.9 wks	20.7 km
Chichester	61.6%	63.3%	6,672	4.7 wks	26.7 km
Winchester	52.2%	50.0%	4,602	7.1 wks	28.5 km
Basingstoke	56.8%	57.7%	5,009	19.6 wks	44.4 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 Portsmouth in July 2026, the median wait between booking and the test was 13.0 weeks, against 11.1 weeks across Great Britain. DVSA estimated 19.8 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 289 tests here in 2025-26, 2.1 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 Portsmouth test centre

What is the pass rate at Portsmouth driving test centre?

52.8% of driving tests at Portsmouth were passes in 2025-26: 7,141 of 13,518, according to DVSA. That is 2.8 points above the Great Britain figure of 50.0%.

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

DVSA records 13,518 car driving tests at Portsmouth in 2025-26, of which 7,141 were passed.

Is the first-time pass rate at Portsmouth different?

For first attempts the pass rate was 52.9% (3,858 of 7,293) in 2025-26, against 52.8% for all attempts.

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

DVSA's median wait between booking and taking a test at Portsmouth was 13.0 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 Portsmouth driving test centre?

Car tests start from Portsmouth Marriott Hotel, Southampton Road, Portsmouth, PO6 4SH. On a map it is at 50.84587, -1.09075.

Is there an official list of routes for Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth compare with nearby test centres?

In 2025-26 the pass rate at Portsmouth was 52.8%. The nearest centres with a page here: Lee On The Solent 63.2% (8.8 km away); Newport, Isle of Wight 54.1% (20.7 km away); Chichester 61.6% (26.7 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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