Automatic driving test pass rates in East of England, 2025/26

24 test centres in East of England ranked by their pass rate in automatic cars, highest to lowest. They conducted 59,252 automatic tests and passed 27,084, a rate of 45.7%, against 44.6% for automatic tests across Great Britain and 50% for all cars.

All regions East Midlands East of England London North East North West Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands Yorkshire and The Humber

#	Test centre	Region	Automatic tests	Automatic pass rate	All tests	Difference
1	Ipswich	East of England	2,710	56.4%	62.3%	-5.9
2	Norwich (Peachman Way)	East of England	2,716	55.4%	61.7%	-6.3
3	Letchworth	East of England	1,335	51.3%	57.5%	-6.2
4	Chelmsford (Hanbury Road)	East of England	2,697	49.2%	55.4%	-6.2
5	Stevenage	East of England	1,444	48.5%	55.3%	-6.8
6	Borehamwood (London)	East of England	3,058	48.4%	50.8%	-2.4
7	Cambridge (Brookmount Court)	East of England	4,103	47.9%	53.8%	-5.9
8	St Albans	East of England	2,454	47.7%	50.7%	-3.0
9	Peterborough	East of England	3,245	47.6%	52.8%	-5.2
10	Bedford	East of England	2,888	46.8%	53.7%	-6.9
11	Leighton Buzzard (Stanbridge Road)	East of England	2,262	46.2%	49.9%	-3.7
12	Brentwood (London)	East of England	1,974	46.1%	48.5%	-2.4
13	Tilbury	East of England	2,134	46.0%	50.4%	-4.4
14	Loughton (London)	East of England	3,249	45.3%	47.0%	-1.7
15	Basildon	East of England	2,850	45.2%	49.1%	-3.9
16	Clacton-on- Sea	East of England	1,243	43.8%	48.2%	-4.4
17	Colchester	East of England	2,207	43.5%	50.6%	-7.1
18	Bishops Stortford	East of England	1,752	42.8%	51.3%	-8.5
19	Watford	East of England	4,727	41.1%	46.2%	-5.1
20	Southend-on-Sea	East of England	2,213	41.0%	47.0%	-6.0
21	Kings Lynn	East of England	1,370	40.7%	51.9%	-11.2
22	Bury St Edmunds	East of England	1,858	40.1%	46.2%	-6.1
23	Luton	East of England	3,272	36.5%	39.2%	-2.7
24	Lowestoft (Mobbs Way)	East of England	1,491	35.2%	43.3%	-8.1

Taking the test in an automatic

The automatic pass rate is usually the lower of the two at the same centre. Of the 255 centres in this table with both figures published for 2025/26, 254 pass fewer automatic candidates than they do candidates overall. Nationally the difference is 5.4 points, with automatics behind. The car is not the reason. Automatic learners are more likely to be older, to be returning to driving after a long gap, or to have found the clutch the obstacle in the first place, and the test itself is marked identically.

The thing to weigh is what you get at the end. Pass in an automatic and your licence is restricted to automatics: category B auto. Driving a manual afterwards means taking the practical test again in one. Pass in a manual and you may drive either. If you never intend to drive a manual that restriction costs you nothing, and it is now a common choice.

Volumes are climbing. Automatic tests went from 50,599 in 2008/09 to 582,403 in 2025/26, a rise of 1051%, and they are now 29.4% of all car tests. Expect waits for an automatic instructor to be longer than for a manual one in most towns, because supply has not kept pace.

Centres with fewer than 200 automatic tests in the year are left out; 27 are excluded on that rule. Many centres still do only a handful of automatic tests a week, and at that volume the rate swings wildly from one year to the next.

Every centre in the country is on the national automatic test table, and addresses, waiting times and route notes for these centres are in the East of England test centre directory.