Driving test centres

Blackpool driving test centre

Blackpool passed 51.8% of car driving tests in April 2025 to March 2026, 1.8 points above the national average. That ranks it 141 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.

51.8%pass rate
50%national average
8,948tests conducted
141/289national rank

What the numbers mean for you

Of the 8,948 car tests taken at Blackpool between April 2025 and March 2026, 4,633 ended in a pass. That is better than the 50% average across every centre in the country, by 1.8 percentage points.

Against the year before, the pass rate rose 2.2 points from 49.6%.

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 Blackpool

The best month was August 2025 at 54.6%, the weakest April 2025 at 48%. Monthly figures bounce around at smaller centres because each month rests on a few hundred tests or fewer.

MonthTestsPassesPass rate
April 202556927348%
May 202566134251.7%
June 202583145254.4%
July 202578341853.4%
August 202561733754.6%
September 202576340753.3%
October 202586841948.3%
November 202577141754.1%
December 202576738750.5%
January 202667136354.1%
February 202673736849.9%
March 202691045049.5%

Getting an earlier test at Blackpool

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

  1. Book whatever slot Blackpool 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 Blackpool with centres running a similar number of tests rather than ones close by.

Test centrePass rateTests conducted
Bedford53.7%8,854
Chertsey (London)52.9%9,082
Middlesbrough47.7%8,854
Birmingham (Kings Heath)46.8%9,072
Banbury41.3%9,069

Common questions

What is the pass rate at Blackpool driving test centre?

Blackpool passed 51.8% of car driving tests in April 2025 to March 2026, from 8,948 tests conducted. The national average across all centres over the same period was 50%.

Is Blackpool a hard test centre?

Its pass rate is 1.8 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 Blackpool?

Book any available slot at Blackpool 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 Blackpool conduct?

8,948 car tests in April 2025 to March 2026, which makes it one of the busier centres in the country. Busier centres tend to release more cancellation slots, but they also have more people chasing them.

Sources