Birmingham driving test centre
DVSA name: Birmingham (South Yardley) · Clay Lane, South Yardley, B26 1EA
Drive the 5 routes around Birmingham before test day →
Key facts
- Birmingham's pass rate was 42.8% in 2025/26 from 14,471 tests, 7.2 points below the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 20 of 26 centres in West Midlands (West Midlands average 46.2%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 3.4 points below it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 6.1 points, from 36.7% to 42.8%.
- Male candidates passed at 45.4% and female candidates at 38.4%, a gap of 7 points, wider than at most centres.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 10 weeks since booking; 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 5 weeks, so waits have grown by about 5 weeks.
South Yardley sits on Clay Lane, a residential side road a short way off the Coventry Road, with Gilbertstone Primary School across from it. On the published figures it is one of the harder centres in the country, 272nd of 302 nationally and 20th of 26 in the West Midlands. The number has been moving the right way, though. It has climbed six points in four years, so the centre's reputation is a little worse than the current picture deserves.
What makes it difficult is not one feature. It is the mix: a dense grid of 30 mph streets, a high junction count, and traffic on the Coventry Road that never really thins out. Garretts Green, three kilometres up the road, passes more candidates, and so does Shirley.
Drive the Birmingham test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 52 km in all, with 16 roundabouts and 130 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Birmingham; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Birmingham from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 52 km · 130 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 Coventry Road11.8 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 16 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Clay Lane.11.8 km · 28 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Stockfield Road10.8 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 15 left turns and a stretch of Gilbertstone Avenue.10.8 km · 32 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Barrows Lane9.7 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 16 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Lincoln Road.9.7 km · 28 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Clay Lane10.3 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 13 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of The Avenue.10.3 km · 23 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Barn Lane9.6 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Sherbourne Road.9.6 km · 19 turns · 6 roundabouts
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 on the practice loops on this page is unusually flat. Ninety-five per cent of the route length is 30 mph and the rest is 20, with nothing faster on any of the five. Your test is decided at junctions rather than on speed.
There are a great many junctions, and most of them are unprotected. Sixty-seven give-way junctions sit on the loops against ten sets of traffic lights, with twenty-three signalled crossings and seven mini-roundabouts among them. The mini-roundabouts are the local speciality and they punish hesitation. The painted circle is small enough that other drivers treat it as a give-way line, so you have to read what the car opposite is actually doing rather than what the markings promise. The larger junctions carry names locals use: Swan Island, Church Road, the Warwick Road roundabouts.
Coventry Road is the one everybody remembers. It is wide, it carries traffic between the city and the airport, and lane discipline on it is what instructors spend lessons drilling. Off it, the residential streets around Gilbertstone Avenue, Lyndon Road and Barrows Lane are where the slow, careful work happens: parked cars both sides, narrow gaps, and about seventy schools scattered across the area to keep you honest about pedestrians.
Two things surprise people. There is a level crossing on the loops, so a barrier coming down mid-test is a genuine possibility rather than a curiosity. And the practice loops on this page run between nine and twelve kilometres with a heavy count of right turns, which is a fair reflection of what these roads ask of you.
Pass rate at Birmingham, 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 | 14,471 | 42.8% | 45.4% | 38.4% |
| 2024/25 | 12,709 | 41.6% | 44.1% | 37.6% |
| 2023/24 | 10,190 | 42.4% | 46.3% | 37.8% |
| 2022/23 | 10,570 | 39.7% | 43.2% | 35.7% |
| 2021/22 | 7,890 | 36.7% | 41.8% | 30.7% |
| 2020/21 | 2,890 | 34.6% | 40.4% | 28.5% |
| 2019/20 | 8,983 | 31.7% | 37.9% | 26.5% |
| 2018/19 | 9,030 | 32.8% | 38.5% | 28.0% |
West Midlands average 46.2% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Birmingham
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 | 23.8 | 32 | 34.8% |
| Jul 2026 | 10 | 24 | 42 | 30.8% |
| Jun 2026 | 11.1 | 24 | 42 | 34.9% |
| May 2026 | 12.6 | 24 | 44 | 34.2% |
| Apr 2026 | 5.1 | 24 | 55 | 26.4% |
| Mar 2026 | 10.9 | 24 | 44 | 30.6% |
Tell me when the wait at Birmingham drops
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Test day at Birmingham
Clay Lane is narrow and lined with houses, so the approach matters as much as the arrival. Give yourself time to come in off the main road and settle, rather than making your first observation of the day under pressure.
Parking is the usual disagreement. Some listings say the centre has its own spaces, others point candidates at the public parking on the service road nearby. Treat it as typical of an inner-city centre: a small number of spaces that fill up quickly, and a fallback plan for a side street if they have gone. Inside there are toilets and a waiting area, and access is step-free, with a marked bay for disabled candidates.
You may be called from the waiting room or asked to stay in the car, so be parked and ready either way rather than circling the block. If you are being dropped off, Acocks Green station is under a kilometre away and the Coventry Road is a main bus corridor a few minutes from the door.
The primary school opposite matters more than it sounds. An afternoon slot can begin and end in the school run, with parked cars on both kerbs and children crossing between them.
What DVSA publishes about Birmingham
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 Birmingham
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 Birmingham.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Clay LaneSouth Yardley B26 1EA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Birmingham (Garretts Green)Birmingham · B33 0SD · 3.3 km44.4%-5.6 vs GB7 wkswait
- Birmingham (Shirley)Solihull · B90 4AA · 5.6 km56.6%+6.6 vs GB16.2 wkswait
- Birmingham (Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre)Birmingham · B14 6ER · 6.8 km53.5%+3.5 vs GB3.1 wkswait
- Birmingham (Kings Heath)Birmingham · B14 5JA · 7.5 km46.8%-3.2 vs GB11.7 wkswait
- Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield)Sutton Coldfield · B73 5UB · 11 km44.1%-5.9 vs GB15.1 wkswait
- Birmingham (Kingstanding)Birmingham · B44 9UL · 11 km48.5%-1.5 vs GB23 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Birmingham
- Is Birmingham an easy test centre?
- Its 42.8% pass rate in 2025/26 is below the 50.0% national average. Busy urban roads and complex junctions usually explain lower rates; knowing the local routes closes most of that gap.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Birmingham?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Birmingham was 10 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 Birmingham driving test centre?
- Birmingham test centre is at Clay Lane, South Yardley, B26 1EA. 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 Birmingham do a year?
- 14,471 car tests were conducted at Birmingham in 2025/26, of which 6,199 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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