First-time driving test pass rates in West Midlands, 2025/26

25 test centres in West Midlands ranked by the share of candidates who pass on their first ever driving test, highest to lowest. 106,303 first tests here produced 48,999 passes, a first-time rate of 46.1%, against 50.5% across Great Britain.

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	First tests	First-time pass rate	All attempts	Gap
1	Ludlow	West Midlands	2,281	61.6%	58.7%	+2.9
2	Hereford	West Midlands	2,186	60.0%	58.8%	+1.2
3	Birmingham (Shirley)	West Midlands	4,791	58.3%	56.6%	+1.7
4	Burton on Trent	West Midlands	3,842	56.5%	54.7%	+1.8
5	Rugby	West Midlands	3,088	55.0%	51.4%	+3.6
6	Nuneaton	West Midlands	3,267	54.6%	53.2%	+1.4
7	Oswestry	West Midlands	936	54.3%	52.4%	+1.9
8	Lichfield	West Midlands	3,184	53.3%	53.0%	+0.3
9	Shrewsbury	West Midlands	2,432	53.2%	51.0%	+2.2
10	Worcester	West Midlands	5,818	52.3%	51.9%	+0.4
11	Redditch	West Midlands	2,166	51.5%	51.4%	+0.1
12	Telford	West Midlands	2,558	48.1%	48.9%	-0.8
13	Warwick (Wedgenock House)	West Midlands	7,035	47.3%	48.5%	-1.2
14	Birmingham (Kingstanding)	West Midlands	8,099	47.2%	48.5%	-1.3
15	Stafford	West Midlands	2,538	45.8%	45.8%	+0.0
16	Birmingham (Kings Heath)	West Midlands	4,394	45.6%	46.8%	-1.2
17	Dudley	West Midlands	6,539	45.1%	45.2%	-0.1
18	Birmingham (Garretts Green)	West Midlands	9,212	42.0%	44.4%	-2.4
19	Birmingham (South Yardley)	West Midlands	6,393	40.5%	42.8%	-2.3
20	Stoke on Trent (Newcastle under Lyme)	West Midlands	3,032	40.0%	41.6%	-1.6
21	Stoke on Trent (Cobridge)	West Midlands	3,367	38.7%	40.6%	-1.9
22	Coventry	West Midlands	5,871	38.3%	40.0%	-1.7
23	Featherstone	West Midlands	5,266	35.1%	36.4%	-1.3
24	Wolverhampton	West Midlands	4,751	33.4%	34.3%	-0.9
25	Wednesbury	West Midlands	3,257	31.5%	35.0%	-3.5

What a first-time pass rate measures

The headline pass rate at a test centre mixes two groups: people sitting the driving test for the first time, and people coming back for a second, third or fifth attempt. The figure on this page counts only the first group. Of the candidates who arrived at each centre having never sat a driving test before, this is the share who drove away with a licence, which is the question you are actually asking if you have never taken the test.

The difference is smaller than most people expect. In 2025/26 the first-time rate across Great Britain was 50.5%, against 50.0% counting every attempt, a gap of 0.5 points. Centre by centre it splits almost evenly: of the 257 centres here with both figures published, 140 pass first-timers at a higher rate than their candidates overall and 107 at a lower one, with a median difference of 0.2 points. Retaking is not the drag on a centre's headline number that it is often assumed to be.

28,207 of those first-time passes were clean sheets, with no driving faults recorded at all, not even a minor. That is 5.7% of everyone who passed at the first attempt.

Centres with fewer than 500 first tests in the year are left out, because at that size a couple of dozen results moves the rate by several points and the ranking stops meaning anything. 54 centres are excluded on that rule.

The same ranking for the whole country is on the national first-time pass rate table, and addresses, waiting times and route notes for these centres are in the West Midlands test centre directory.