Driving test centres

Alness driving test centre

Alness passed 63.1% of car driving tests in April 2025 to March 2026, 13.1 points above the national average. That ranks it 22 of 289 centres with enough tests to compare.

Facts checked against GOV.UK and DVSA sources on 8 September 2026. Sources are listed at the end of this page.

63.1%pass rate
50%national average
731tests conducted
22/289national rank

What the numbers mean for you

Of the 731 car tests taken at Alness between April 2025 and March 2026, 461 ended in a pass. That is better than the 50% average across every centre in the country, by 13.1 percentage points.

Against the year before, the pass rate rose 0.1 points from 63%.

A pass rate is not a difficulty score. It measures who passed, not how hard the routes are. Centres serving mostly well-prepared candidates score higher, and a quiet rural centre with few tests can swing several points on a handful of results. Use it to compare options, not to predict your own result.

Month by month at Alness

The best month was April 2025 at 74.6%, the weakest December 2025 at 56.7%. Monthly figures bounce around at smaller centres because each month rests on a few hundred tests or fewer.

MonthTestsPassesPass rate
April 2025594474.6%
May 2025623759.7%
June 2025594067.8%
July 2025603761.7%
October 20251026664.7%
November 2025996363.6%
December 2025673856.7%
January 2026432558.1%
February 2026945760.6%
March 2026865462.8%

Getting an earlier test at Alness

Waiting times are set locally, and the national picture (a 20.2 week average) hides a big spread between centres. Whatever the queue at Alness, the route to a sooner date is the same: hold a booking, then watch for cancellations.

  1. Book whatever slot Alness has, even months out. You cannot swap to a cancellation without an existing booking.
  2. Watch the free GOV.UK change service, especially just after 6am when the booking system reopens.
  3. Take an earlier slot when one appears, remembering car tests allow only 2 changes.

The full method, including what the paid cancellation checker apps do and where the scams are, is on our driving test cancellations guide.

Centres of a similar size

The DVSA table carries no locations, so this compares Alness with centres running a similar number of tests rather than ones close by.

Test centrePass rateTests conducted
Pwllheli68.1%737
Cumnock67.4%760
Inverurie61.8%725
Peebles58.8%685
Louth53.9%740

Common questions

What is the pass rate at Alness driving test centre?

Alness passed 63.1% of car driving tests in April 2025 to March 2026, from 731 tests conducted. The national average across all centres over the same period was 50%.

Is Alness a hard test centre?

Its pass rate is 13.1 points above the national average, so on the DVSA numbers it is an easier centre than most. Pass rates reflect who takes tests there as much as the routes themselves, so treat it as a guide rather than a promise.

How do I get an earlier test at Alness?

Book any available slot at Alness first, then watch the free change service on GOV.UK for cancellations. Slots freed by other candidates reappear in the booking calendar within minutes and go quickly, so check early mornings around 6am. Car tests allow only 2 changes, so save them for a date you would genuinely keep.

How many driving tests does Alness conduct?

731 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026, which makes it one of the quieter centres. Busier centres tend to release more cancellation slots, but they also have more people chasing them.

Sources