Banff driving test centre
Driving Test Centre Banff, Ground Floor Banff Castle, AB45 1DL
Drive the 5 routes around Banff before test day →
Key facts
- Banff's pass rate was 57.5% in 2025/26 from 280 tests, 7.5 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 31 of 67 centres in Scotland (Scotland average 49.3%), a mid-table pass rates in the region, 8.2 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 8.4 points, from 65.9% to 57.5%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 14 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 9.2 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 5 weeks, so waits have grown by about 9 weeks.
The driving test centre at Banff is on the ground floor of Banff Castle, which is not something you can say about many centres. The driving is more ordinary. Five numbered roads feed the practice loops on this page, the A97 and the A953 among them, and nearly a third of the loop length is at 40 mph, which is a high share for a town test. In town it is mostly 30. What you will not find is traffic lights. There are none at all on the loops, and the junction work is handled by two mini-roundabouts and one conventional roundabout at Whinhill Road instead. Fewer than three hundred tests a year are taken here.
Drive the Banff test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 48 km in all, with 2 roundabouts and 66 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Banff; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Banff from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 48 km · 66 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 Sandyhill Road9.8 km loop with 11 right turns, 12 left turns and a stretch of Castle Street.9.8 km · 23 turns
- Route 2 · via Whinhill Road12.0 km loop with 1 roundabout, 4 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Colleonard Road.12.0 km · 10 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 3 · via North Castle Street7.9 km loop with 1 roundabout, 7 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Castle Street.7.9 km · 14 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 4 · via Castle Street10.0 km loop with 5 right turns, 3 left turns and a stretch of North Castle Street.10.0 km · 8 turns
- Route 5 · via Castle Street8.7 km loop with 6 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Sandyhill Road.8.7 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.
There is not a single set of traffic lights on the practice loops at Banff. There are no zebra crossings either, and only one marked give-way junction across 48.4 km. Almost nothing on the loops tells you what to do. Two mini-roundabouts sit on them, with one conventional roundabout at Whinhill Road, and everything else is an unmarked junction you have to read for yourself.
The unmarked junction is what to practise for, and after it the mini-roundabout, specifically the version of it you meet on a 30 mph road with a queue behind you. Signal for the exit you are taking. Give way to the right. Do not drive over the painted circle, and do not sit at the line waiting for a gap you already had.
The speeds are faster than the town suggests. Just over half the loop length is 30 mph, but nearly a third is 40 and a small share is 60, which comes from the numbered roads out of Banff, the A97, the A953 and three B roads. Only a twentieth is 20 mph. With two traffic calming features across five loops, the limit sign is doing all the work.
The loops run from 7.9 km to 12 km. Sandyhill Road, North Castle Street, Colleonard Road, Boyndie Street, Gallowhill Street and Bruce Street are the names that recur, and Quayside is where the routes come down to the water. Three schools sit in the area, which for a town of this size means the school run touches most of the loops at once rather than one corner of them.
Pass rate at Banff, 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 | 280 | 57.5% | 60.0% | 54.2% |
| 2024/25 | 253 | 50.6% | 53.3% | 48.1% |
| 2023/24 | 227 | 53.7% | 56.0% | 51.7% |
| 2022/23 | 246 | 57.3% | 65.2% | 50.7% |
| 2021/22 | 217 | 65.9% | 70.0% | 62.4% |
| 2020/21 | 24 | 62.5% | 66.7% | 60.0% |
| 2019/20 | 232 | 65.9% | 66.4% | 65.4% |
| 2018/19 | 248 | 62.9% | 68.1% | 58.5% |
Scotland average 49.3% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Banff
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 | 14 | 9.2 | 14 | 0% |
| Jul 2026 | 14 | 16.3 | 21 | 0% |
| Jun 2026 | 6.1 | 24 | 52 | 4.8% |
| May 2026 | 10 | 18.8 | 29 | 4.8% |
| Apr 2026 | 7.1 | 24 | 50 | 0% |
| Mar 2026 | 17.2 | 24 | 36 | 13.9% |
Tell me when the wait at Banff drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Banff
The centre occupies the ground floor of Banff Castle, above the town. A historic building is not a purpose-built unit, so the door, the room and the parking are all worth finding on a practice run rather than on the morning. Nothing is published about candidate parking or a waiting room.
DVSA does publish that it will make arrangements for candidates with a disability at this centre. It does not publish a wheelchair access line, which for a building of this age is not surprising, so if you need step-free access, ring before the day and ask exactly what is available. Only car tests are run here.
There is no railway station near Banff. Everyone arrives by car or bus, and that shapes the morning more than it does at most centres, because there is no fallback if a lift falls through.
On the numbers, be careful. Around 280 tests a year are taken at Banff. This site only ranks centres with at least a hundred tests for exactly that reason: at this size, a swing of several points from one year to the next can be a dozen candidates rather than a change in standards. The wait has been running at about fourteen weeks. Booking, moving and cancelling is only through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Banff
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
- Not published. DVSA says it will make arrangements for candidates with a disability, which is not the same as step-free access. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Learner reports from Banff
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 Banff.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Driving Test Centre Banff, Ground Floor Banff CastleBanff AB45 1DL
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- BuckieAB56 1QJ · 27 km51.1%+1.1 vs GB6 wkswait
- HuntlyAberdeenshire · AB54 4SH · 28 km63.7%+13.7 vs GB13.3 wkswait
- FraserburghAB43 9TN · 31 km64.0%+14.0 vs GB18.1 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Banff
- Is Banff an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 57.5% 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 Banff?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Banff was 14 weeks, and you had to look about 9.2 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 Banff driving test centre?
- Banff test centre is at Driving Test Centre Banff, Ground Floor Banff Castle, AB45 1DL. 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 Banff do a year?
- 280 car tests were conducted at Banff in 2025/26, of which 161 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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