Bala driving test centre
Unit 4, Penllyn Workshops, Bala, LL23 7SP
Drive the 5 routes around Bala before test day →
Key facts
- Bala's pass rate was 61.6% in 2025/26 from 607 tests, 11.6 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 4 of 21 centres in Wales (Wales average 52.4%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 9.2 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 7 points, from 54.6% to 61.6%.
- Male candidates passed at 65.4% and female candidates at 57.9%, a gap of 7.5 points, wider than at most centres.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 11.4 weeks since booking; the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 12.2 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 17.4 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 6 weeks.
Bala does not have a roundabout. Not a conventional one, not a mini-roundabout, not anywhere on the practice loops on this page. That is rare enough in Britain to be worth saying first, because if roundabouts are the thing you dread you will not meet one here, and if they are the thing you have drilled you have drilled for a different town. What Bala has instead is two speeds. About a third of the loop length is 20 mph in the town, nearly half is 60 mph on the roads out of it, and there is very little in between. The pass rate has been rising for several years and is among the higher ones in Wales.
Drive the Bala test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 53 km in all, with 0 roundabouts and 77 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Bala; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Bala from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 53 km · 77 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
One payment, no renewal. Or £9.99 a month with a 3-day free trial. Cancel any time.
Everything else on PassRank, every centre, its pass rate, its waiting time and the forum, is free and needs no account.
- Route 1 · via Heol Tegid11.0 km loop with 10 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Heol Pensarn.11.0 km · 18 turns
- Route 2 · via Heol Yr Orsaf12.6 km loop with 9 right turns, 12 left turns and a stretch of Stryd y Fron.12.6 km · 21 turns
- Route 3 · via Heol Pensarn8.7 km loop with 7 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Heol Tegid.8.7 km · 14 turns
- Route 4 · via Heol Yr Orsaf12.5 km loop with 6 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Heol Tegid.12.5 km · 13 turns
- Route 5 · via Heol Ffrydan8.1 km loop with 5 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Heol Tegid.8.1 km · 11 turns
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The road profile at Bala is unusually bare, and it is worth knowing exactly what is missing before you book.
- No roundabouts and no mini-roundabouts anywhere on the loops.
- No zebra crossings, and only one signalled one.
- No level crossings.
- No traffic calming at all across 52.9 km of loop.
What is left is give-way junctions, fifteen of them, and speed. Nearly half the loop length is 60 mph, on the B4401 and the roads running out along the lake, and a third is 20 mph in the town. Only a small share is 30. The step between the two is what the test is really about. You leave Y Stryd Fawr or Heol Tegid at 20 and you are at the national limit shortly afterwards, and coming back the other way the sign arrives before most people expect it.
Three sets of traffic signals sit on the loops. That is few enough that they do not shape the drive, and the junction to practise is the ordinary one where you decide for yourself.
The loops run from 8.1 km to 12.6 km. Three of the five take in Heol Tegid, and the longest goes round by Stryd y Fron. Street names are Welsh and the signs are bilingual, Welsh above English, so Heol Aran, Heol Ffrydan, Heol Pensarn and Heol Yr Orsaf are the names your instructor will use on the day. If you learned in England they look unfamiliar, but the shapes and symbols on the signs are the ones you already revised.
Pass rate at Bala, 2007/08 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 | 607 | 61.6% | 65.4% | 57.9% |
| 2024/25 | 574 | 61.1% | 64.2% | 58.5% |
| 2023/24 | 479 | 57.0% | 58.6% | 55.5% |
| 2022/23 | 591 | 51.3% | 48.4% | 53.9% |
| 2021/22 | 716 | 54.6% | 54.5% | 54.7% |
| 2020/21 | 140 | 59.3% | 62.7% | 56.8% |
| 2019/20 | 667 | 49.5% | 51.2% | 47.7% |
| 2018/19 | 682 | 52.6% | 52.2% | 53.1% |
Wales average 52.4% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Bala
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 | 11.4 | 12.2 | 38 | 3.1% |
| Jul 2026 | 11.4 | 9.8 | 38 | 13.2% |
| Jun 2026 | 12.1 | 5.8 | 25 | 4.7% |
| May 2026 | 16.7 | 9 | 28 | 17.4% |
| Apr 2026 | 17.9 | 3.3 | 18 | 32.7% |
| Mar 2026 | 16.9 | 11 | 7 | 25.8% |
Tell me when the wait at Bala drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Bala
The centre is Unit 4 at Penllyn Workshops in Bala. A workshop unit has no shopfront and no DVSA sign visible from a moving car, so find the unit number before the day rather than on it. DVSA publishes that you can access this centre if you use a wheelchair.
Only car tests run here. No motorcycle tests, no instructor tests. Nothing is published about candidate parking, a waiting room or toilets. For a unit of this kind the usual arrangement is a small shared yard and no facilities to speak of, which is typical rather than confirmed, so plan to wait in the car and use the town beforehand if you need to.
The nearest station is Bala at Penybont, about a kilometre away, but this is a place most candidates reach by car and the surrounding villages have little in the way of buses.
The wait has come down over the past year. A test taken in July had been booked about eleven weeks earlier, and slots were opening a little sooner than that, so watching for a cancellation is worth the effort here. Booking, moving and cancelling tests is only through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Bala
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- car
- Wheelchair access
- DVSA states you can access this centre in a wheelchair.
Learner reports from Bala
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 Bala.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Unit 4, Penllyn WorkshopsBala LL23 7SP
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- OswestrySY10 8GA · 38 km52.4%+2.4 vs GB11.4 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Bala
- Is Bala an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 61.6% 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 Bala?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Bala was 11.4 weeks, and you had to look about 12.2 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 Bala driving test centre?
- Bala test centre is at Unit 4, Penllyn Workshops, Bala, LL23 7SP. 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 Bala do a year?
- 607 car tests were conducted at Bala in 2025/26, of which 374 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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