Benbecula Island driving test centre
Balivanich Airport, Benbecula Island, HS7 5LA
Drive the 5 routes around Benbecula Island before test day →
Key facts
- Benbecula Island's pass rate was 72.9% in 2025/26 from 107 tests, 22.9 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 2 of 67 centres in Scotland (Scotland average 49.3%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 23.6 points above it.
- Since 2016/17 the pass rate has risen by 21.9 points, from 51% to 72.9%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 10.6 weeks since booking; the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 15 weeks ahead.
Benbecula has the second highest pass rate of any car test centre in Britain, and on its own the number is close to meaningless. It comes from 107 tests. At that size a handful of results moves the figure by several points, and this site only ranks centres with at least a hundred tests because of it. What is true, and more useful, is that there is very little traffic here and almost no junction furniture. Within two and a half kilometres of the centre there is not one set of traffic lights, not one roundabout and not one pedestrian crossing. The test centre is at Balivanich Airport on the island itself.
Drive the Benbecula Island test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 59 km in all, with 0 roundabouts and 52 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Benbecula Island; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Benbecula Island from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 59 km · 52 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 214.2 km loop with 7 right turns and 4 left turns.14.2 km · 11 turns
- Route 311.2 km loop with 5 right turns and 4 left turns.11.2 km · 9 turns
- Route 412.2 km loop with 7 right turns and 3 left turns.12.2 km · 10 turns
- Route 512.2 km loop with 6 right turns and 9 left turns.12.2 km · 15 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 data for Benbecula works differently from most centres on this site. There is not enough mapped detail on the loops themselves to profile, so the counts describe junctions within two and a half kilometres of the centre instead. Read that way, the result is still striking. No traffic signals. No roundabouts or mini-roundabouts. No pedestrian crossings of any kind, signalled or zebra. No level crossings and no traffic calming. Every tagged road inside that radius carries a 30 mph limit.
Two roads carry the routes: the A865, which is the spine of the Uists, and the B892 out to Balivanich and the airport. The practice loops on this page run from 8.7 km to 14.2 km, and the turn counts give the game away. The shortest has three right turns and four left. Most centres pack that many into the first kilometre.
So the driving is long, open and lightly signed, and the faults that come with it are the quiet ones. Speed drifting up on a straight with nothing around to reference it against. Observation going soft at a junction you have used all your life. Steering that wanders because there is no line of parked cars to hold to. None of these show up as a single moment. They show up as a pattern the examiner has been watching for ten minutes.
What the data does not cover is the road beyond that radius, and every loop leaves it. Ask your instructor what those stretches ask of you, because the profile here does not say.
Pass rate at Benbecula Island, 2008/09 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 | 107 | 72.9% | 68.4% | 78.0% |
| 2024/25 | 104 | 78.8% | 75.4% | 83.0% |
| 2023/24 | 111 | 91.0% | 90.4% | 91.5% |
| 2022/23 | 84 | 85.7% | 84.1% | 87.5% |
| 2016/17 | 100 | 51.0% | 46.7% | 57.5% |
| 2014/15 | 97 | 60.8% | 70.3% | 55.0% |
| 2013/14 | 72 | 52.8% | 82.6% | 38.8% |
| 2012/13 | 87 | 58.6% | 53.1% | 61.8% |
Scotland average 49.3% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Benbecula Island
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 | 10.6 | 15 | 19 | 4.8% |
| Jul 2026 | 10.6 | 14.3 | 29 | 0% |
| Jun 2026 | 5.6 | 15.8 | 79 | 0% |
| May 2026 | 8.4 | 20.8 | 0 | 0% |
| Apr 2026 | 9.3 | 24 | 28 | 5.6% |
| Mar 2026 | 5.4 | 19.4 | 64 | 0% |
Tell me when the wait at Benbecula Island drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Benbecula Island
The centre is at Balivanich Airport on Benbecula. An airport terminal on a small island is a straightforward place to find, which is more than can be said for most test centres, but it is a working terminal and the room used for tests is not the departure hall.
DVSA lists car tests only, and publishes that it will make arrangements for candidates with a disability here. There is no wheelchair access line in the record, so if that matters to you, ring ahead rather than assuming either way. Nothing is published about parking or a waiting room. An airport has both, but neither is set aside for driving tests.
DVSA publishes nothing about which days testing runs at Benbecula. At a centre taking around 107 tests a year it will not be every weekday, and the booking system is the only reliable guide to when an examiner is there.
Availability is unusually loose. Around 35 per cent of standard slots in the booking window were still unbooked in July, which is high, so a cancellation or an earlier date is a realistic thing to chase. The nearest other centre is South Uist, about 35 kilometres south. Booking, moving and cancelling tests is only through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Benbecula Island
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 Benbecula Island
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 Benbecula Island.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Balivanich AirportBenbecula Island HS7 5LA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- South UistHS8 5TH · 35 km55.6%+5.6 vs GB–wait
Questions learners ask about Benbecula Island
- Is Benbecula Island an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 72.9% 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 Benbecula Island?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Benbecula Island was 10.6 weeks, and you had to look about 15 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 Benbecula Island driving test centre?
- Benbecula Island test centre is at Balivanich Airport, Benbecula Island, HS7 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 Benbecula Island do a year?
- 107 car tests were conducted at Benbecula Island in 2025/26, of which 78 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.
Drive Benbecula Island’s 5 test routes in 3D3 days free, then £9.99/month · or £14.99 once for 90 days
Try free