Ashfield driving test centre
Ground Floor, Sherwood House, Off Coxmoor Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield, NG17 5LA
Drive the 5 routes around Ashfield before test day →
Key facts
- Ashfield's pass rate was 57.3% in 2025/26 from 8,144 tests, 7.3 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 5 of 20 centres in East Midlands (East Midlands average 50.8%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 6.5 points above it.
- The rate has been stable since 2021/22, moving between 51% (2023/24) and 59.1% (2021/22).
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 18.2 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 23.8 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 10 weeks, so waits have grown by about 8.2 weeks.
- 40.4% of the standard slots in the booking window were still unbooked in August 2026, which usually means a cancellation or new date is realistic here.
Ashfield is a fast test by the standards of a town centre. Just under half the distance on the practice loops on this page is at 50 mph or 60, and only about a third is at 30. The centre sits at Sherwood House off Coxmoor Road on the southern side of Sutton-in-Ashfield, and the loops run out onto Mansfield Road, Newark Road and Sherwood Way South before coming back in through the built-up streets. That mix suits candidates who have practised on open roads and finds out those who have only ever driven in town. The pass rate is one of the higher ones in the East Midlands, though the wait is long: more than four months in the summer.
Drive the Ashfield test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 51 km in all, with 13 roundabouts and 120 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Ashfield; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Ashfield from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 51 km · 120 marked turns
- Examiner-style marking on signalling and observation
- Street View tour of each route
- Every roundabout and junction, in the order you'll meet them
- The four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios, included
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- Route 1 · via Hamilton Road9.8 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 13 right turns, 13 left turns and a stretch of Mansfield Road.9.8 km · 30 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Skegby Lane10.0 km loop with 1 roundabout, 12 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Sutton Road.10.0 km · 22 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 3 · via Kirkby Folly Road8.8 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Hamilton Road.8.8 km · 23 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Kings Mill Road East10.9 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Mansfield Road.10.9 km · 23 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Kings Mill Road East12.0 km loop with 14 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Sherwood Way South.12.0 km · 22 turns
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The speed mix is what makes Ashfield different. Measured along the practice loops on this page, about a quarter of the distance is at 60 mph and another quarter at 50, a fifth at 40 and under a third at 30. Very few town centres offer that. It means a test can move from a national speed limit road to a 30 mph residential street and back inside a few minutes, and the fault that shows up is speed carried into the slower section rather than shed before it.
Mansfield Road, Newark Road, Kings Mill Road East and Sherwood Way South carry the faster driving, while Hermitage Lane and Kirkby Folly Road link it back to the built-up part of town.
Junction furniture is lighter than the distance suggests. The loops hold 21 sets of traffic lights and 18 signalled crossings across 51 km, along with 13 traffic-calmed sections and four mini-roundabouts. The crossings matter more than the count suggests. A signalled crossing on a 40 mph road behaves differently from one on a high street, and reading it late there is a serious fault waiting to happen.
Conventional roundabouts are few, three named ones on Hamilton Road, Hermitage Lane and Ladybrook Lane, so the roundabout work is mostly small and quick.
Twenty-seven schools sit in the area and two level crossings appear on the loops. If you are preparing for Ashfield, put the hours into speed changes rather than junction drills. The pass rate here is good, and the candidates who fail usually do it out on the faster roads rather than in the estates.
Waiting time for a test at Ashfield
Median weeks between booking and taking the test, for tests taken each month. Dashed line: GB median for August 2026.
| Month | Median wait | Weeks to free slots | Slots offered | Still free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 18.2 | 23.8 | 30 | 40.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 18.2 | 19.3 | 30 | 43% |
| Jun 2026 | 17.1 | 24 | 30 | 44.1% |
| May 2026 | 10.4 | 24 | 42 | 27.3% |
| Apr 2026 | 9.4 | 24 | 40 | 24.7% |
| Mar 2026 | 9 | 24 | 46 | 25.9% |
Pass rate at Ashfield, 2009/10 to 2025/26
Share of car tests passed each April-to-March year. Dashed line: Great Britain average for 2025/26.
Month by month, 2025/26
By year and gender
| Year | Tests | Pass rate | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 8,144 | 57.3% | 58.4% | 56.1% |
| 2024/25 | 9,507 | 51.2% | 52.9% | 49.3% |
| 2023/24 | 10,894 | 51.0% | 52.3% | 49.4% |
| 2022/23 | 8,327 | 57.3% | 58.9% | 55.7% |
| 2021/22 | 6,319 | 59.1% | 62.4% | 56.2% |
| 2020/21 | 1,530 | 59.5% | 63.4% | 56.3% |
| 2019/20 | 7,111 | 56.3% | 60.1% | 52.9% |
| 2018/19 | 7,217 | 58.2% | 63.2% | 54.2% |
East Midlands average 50.8% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Ashfield drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Ashfield
The centre is on the ground floor of Sherwood House, off Coxmoor Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield. DVSA runs car tests and ADI parts 2 and 3 here, and the centre is accessible if you use a wheelchair.
Parking and waiting facilities are not published. An office building of this kind normally has a car park and instructors generally use it, but that is what is typical rather than something the record states, so allow a few minutes to find the entrance and the right floor.
Sutton Parkway station is under a mile and a half away, so arriving by train is possible, though most candidates come with an instructor.
Booking is the thing to plan around at Ashfield. Tests are booked, moved and cancelled only through GOV.UK, and the median wait for a July test was over eighteen weeks, well beyond the national median and among the longest in the region. Chesterfield, about eighteen kilometres away, was running at under five weeks with a pass rate almost as good, which is worth weighing before you commit. If you do book Ashfield, book early and treat the date as fixed.
What DVSA publishes about Ashfield
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carADI part 2ADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- DVSA states you can access this centre in a wheelchair.
Learner reports from Ashfield
No reports yet for this centre. If you tested here, the first one is yours to write.
What examiners mark most often
DVSA does not publish faults by centre, but it does publish them nationally. These collected the most marks across every car test in Great Britain in 2025/26, and they are the same ones you will be marked on at Ashfield.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Ground Floor, Sherwood House, Off Coxmoor RoadSutton-in-Ashfield NG17 5LA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- ChesterfieldS41 7LT · 18 km56.2%+6.2 vs GB4.9 wkswait
- Nottingham (Colwick )Nottingham · NG4 2JU · 22 km46.4%-3.6 vs GB8.3 wkswait
- WorksopS81 8BW · 23 km55.2%+5.2 vs GB11 wkswait
- Nottingham (Chilwell)Beeston · NG9 6DZ · 25 km49.9%-0.1 vs GB7.7 wkswait
- Derby (Alvaston)Derby · DE21 7AY · 28 km51.8%+1.8 vs GB7.4 wkswait
- Sheffield (Handsworth)Sheffield · S13 9LT · 28 km44.1%-5.9 vs GB6 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Ashfield
- Is Ashfield an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 57.3% of car tests were passed there in 2025/26, against 50.0% nationally. Pass rates reflect the local roads and who takes tests there as much as the examiners, so treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Ashfield?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Ashfield was 18.2 weeks, and you had to look about 23.8 weeks ahead to find a week with at least 10% of slots free. DVSA publishes this monthly; the figure above updates when they do.
- Where is Ashfield driving test centre?
- Ashfield test centre is at Ground Floor, Sherwood House, Off Coxmoor Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield, NG17 5LA. Arrive at least 10 minutes early with your provisional licence; parking rules vary by centre, so check the learner reports below.
- How many driving tests does Ashfield do a year?
- 8,144 car tests were conducted at Ashfield in 2025/26, of which 4,666 were passed.
Source: DVSA tables DRT122A (pass rates by centre and month) and DRT122F (waiting times and availability), Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRank adds the comparisons and rankings.
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