Blyth driving test centre
Unit 3 Sextant House, Freehold Street, Blyth, NE24 3BA
Drive the 5 routes around Blyth before test day →
Key facts
- Blyth's pass rate was 50.9% in 2025/26 from 6,973 tests, in line with the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 7 of 11 centres in North East (North East average 48.4%), a mid-table pass rates in the region, 2.5 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 9.8 points, from 60.7% to 50.9%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 13.5 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 16.1 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 2.6 weeks.
- 31.6% 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.
Blyth is the centre where the practice loops on this page vary most. The shortest is three and a half kilometres. The longest are over twenty-two. That range is real: the town itself is compact and slow, while the routes that leave it run out onto fast open road, with about one part in eight of the total route length at 70 mph. Eight level crossings sit on the loops, which is a lot for one town, and there are thirty-five give way junctions to go with them and very few traffic lights. The pass rate is around the national average, but it has fallen a long way since 2021, further than at most centres, which is worth knowing if you are booking here on reputation.
Drive the Blyth test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 65 km in all, with 44 roundabouts and 98 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Blyth; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Blyth from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 65 km · 98 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 Rotary Way7.3 km loop with 9 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Plessey Road.7.3 km · 21 turns · 9 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Wensleydale Terrace9.3 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 5 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Links Road.9.3 km · 15 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Cowpen Road22.6 km loop with 12 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Brock Lane.22.6 km · 25 turns · 12 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Plessey Road3.5 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 4 left turns and a stretch of Ridley Avenue.3.5 km · 15 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Cowpen Road22.5 km loop with 15 roundabouts, 4 right turns, 3 left turns and a stretch of Brock Lane.22.5 km · 22 turns · 15 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The town half of a Blyth test is slow and cluttered. Plessey Road, Cowpen Road, Bridge Street and Maddison Street carry it, with roughly a quarter of the total route length in 20 mph limits and more than half at 30. Six mini-roundabouts and nineteen signalled crossings sit on the loops against only seven sets of traffic lights, which tells you what sort of town this is: priority junctions rather than signals. There are thirty-five give way junctions across the loops, and give ways are where most of the marked faults live, because a give way asks you to judge rather than to obey.
Worth practising specifically before a Blyth test:
- Level crossings. There are eight on the loops. Stop behind the line, wait without creeping, and move off cleanly once the barriers lift.
- Emerging at a give way onto a road parked on both sides, where the view opens late and the gap has to be taken decisively.
- Mini-roundabouts in the town, signalling off as well as on.
- The fast sections out of town, joining at the speed of the traffic already there and losing that speed again as the limit drops.
Rotary Way, Brock Lane and Broadway are the quick, roundabout-linked part of the network, and the two long loops spend most of their distance out there. Manoeuvres go the other way, onto the residential streets around Ridley Avenue, Amersham Road and Addington Drive, where the kerbs are straight and one side is parked solid.
Pass rate at Blyth, 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 | 6,973 | 50.9% | 49.7% | 52.4% |
| 2024/25 | 6,493 | 47.2% | 45.3% | 49.7% |
| 2023/24 | 7,781 | 48.1% | 46.1% | 50.6% |
| 2022/23 | 8,507 | 56.4% | 56.4% | 56.4% |
| 2021/22 | 4,551 | 60.7% | 61.1% | 60.4% |
| 2020/21 | 1,177 | 66.0% | 67.1% | 65.1% |
| 2019/20 | 5,455 | 55.7% | 57.9% | 53.7% |
| 2018/19 | 5,244 | 57.2% | 62.3% | 52.9% |
North East average 48.4% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Blyth
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 | 13.5 | 23.8 | 37 | 31.6% |
| Jul 2026 | 13.5 | 24 | 36 | 24.4% |
| Jun 2026 | 12.3 | 23.8 | 33 | 27% |
| May 2026 | 8.6 | 24 | 45 | 20.2% |
| Apr 2026 | 9.9 | 24 | 42 | 28.8% |
| Mar 2026 | 10.3 | 23.4 | 40 | 27.9% |
Tell me when the wait at Blyth drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Blyth
The centre is Unit 3, Sextant House, on Freehold Street, so what you are looking for is a unit number rather than a DVSA sign visible from the road. Allow a couple of minutes for that on a first visit.
GOV.UK lists car tests, ADI part 2 and ADI part 3 here, and no accessibility information at all: no wheelchair line, not even the general note about arrangements being made. If access matters to you, ring the booking line before the day and ask what the entrance and the waiting area are like.
Parking is not published either. Small industrial units of this type usually have a few marked bays and no more, which is typical rather than confirmed, so plan for the possibility of leaving the car on the estate road and walking in.
Newsham is the nearest station, a bit under two miles away, so most candidates arrive by car with an instructor rather than by train.
Ten minutes before the slot is enough. The examiner checks your licence, takes the signed insurance declaration and does the eyesight check outside before you get in. Booking, moving and cancelling a test go through GOV.UK and nowhere else.
What DVSA publishes about Blyth
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
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Other tests at Blyth
This centre is not car only. DVSA publishes results for these categories separately, and they are taken by different candidates on different vehicles, so the rates are not comparable with the car figure above.
Learner reports from Blyth
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 Blyth.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Unit 3 Sextant House, Freehold StreetBlyth NE24 3BA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- GosforthNewcastle Upon Tyne · NE3 5HB · 11 km48.4%-1.6 vs GB16.3 wkswait
- GatesheadNE11 9HU · 21 km37.5%-12.5 vs GB7.1 wkswait
- SunderlandSR5 3JJ · 23 km51.1%+1.1 vs GB8.9 wkswait
- AlnwickNE66 1JX · 34 km55.5%+5.5 vs GB14.7 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Blyth
- Is Blyth an easy test centre?
- It is close to the national average: 50.9% of tests were passed in 2025/26 against 50.0% across Great Britain.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Blyth?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Blyth was 13.5 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 Blyth driving test centre?
- Blyth test centre is at Unit 3 Sextant House, Freehold Street, Blyth, NE24 3BA. 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 Blyth do a year?
- 6,973 car tests were conducted at Blyth in 2025/26, of which 3,551 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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