Grantham driving test centre
DVSA name: Grantham (Somerby) · Spitalgate Airfield, Blue Harbour, Grantham, NG31 7TX
Drive the 5 routes around Grantham before test day →
Key facts
- Grantham's pass rate was 57.9% in 2025/26 from 7,318 tests, 7.9 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 4 of 20 centres in East Midlands (East Midlands average 50.8%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 7.1 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 3.1 points, from 54.8% to 57.9%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 16.3 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 23.2 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 19.3 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 3 weeks.
- 32.7% 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.
Grantham tests on country roads. Seven in ten of the roads mapped within 2.5 km of the centre carry the national speed limit of 60, and there is not a single set of traffic signals in that radius. The centre sits at Spitalgate Airfield on the south side of the town, with High Dike running past it, and four of the five practice loops on this page take in a stretch of that road.
The mix produces one of the better pass rates in the country, 62nd of 302 centres and fourth of the twenty in the East Midlands, and it has risen since 2021. It also produces a particular kind of failure: candidates who can handle a town and have never been asked to hold a steady 60 on an open road, or to turn right across one.
Drive the Grantham test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 55 km in all, with 15 roundabouts and 84 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Grantham; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Grantham from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 55 km · 84 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 Somerby Hill10.7 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of High Dike.10.7 km · 21 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Somerby Hill9.2 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of High Dike.9.2 km · 18 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Somerby Hill10.8 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of High Dike.10.8 km · 16 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via High Dike13.3 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Somerby Hill.13.3 km · 18 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via High Dike10.6 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 4 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Harrowby Lane.10.6 km · 11 turns · 2 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The national speed limit is the point of this test. Seven in ten of the roads mapped nearby are 60, one in eight is 50 and only about a sixth is 30. High Dike, Somerby Hill, Cold Harbour and Grantham Road carry most of the driving, with the B1176 on part of it. On roads like these the marking moves away from junction technique and towards speed, position and planning: making proper use of a limit you are allowed to use, easing off for bends you cannot see round, and reading the hedge line for what is coming.
Junctions are few and they are consequential. There are no traffic signals within 2.5 km, one mini-roundabout, and two named roundabouts, on the Grantham Southern Relief Road and at Somerby. The practice loops on this page take in between two and four roundabout entries each. A right turn out of a side road onto a 60 needs a gap you would not think twice about at 30, and that judgement is the most common place to lose it here.
Only one school is mapped in the area, so the school-run pressure that shapes an urban test is largely absent. What replaces it is farm traffic and the long straight stretches of High Dike and Harrowby Lane, where holding a steady speed and a steady position for minutes at a time is the skill being watched. Bridge End Road brings the routes back towards the town and the 30 limits, and that transition, coming down from an open road into a built-up one, is worth rehearsing on its own.
Waiting time for a test at Grantham
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 | 16.3 | 23.2 | 31 | 32.7% |
| Jul 2026 | 16.3 | 24 | 27 | 34.4% |
| Jun 2026 | 16.4 | 24 | 22 | 33.1% |
| May 2026 | 16.3 | 24 | 22 | 38.5% |
| Apr 2026 | 13.6 | 24 | 30 | 30.9% |
| Mar 2026 | 9.6 | 24 | 44 | 24.9% |
Pass rate at Grantham, 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 | 7,318 | 57.9% | 57.9% | 57.9% |
| 2024/25 | 5,959 | 58.1% | 58.9% | 57.0% |
| 2023/24 | 6,416 | 54.4% | 54.8% | 53.9% |
| 2022/23 | 5,583 | 52.1% | 52.4% | 51.7% |
| 2021/22 | 5,404 | 54.8% | 57.2% | 52.1% |
| 2020/21 | 1,480 | 57.9% | 61.1% | 54.7% |
| 2019/20 | 3,965 | 48.6% | 52.4% | 45.2% |
| 2018/19 | 4,309 | 49.4% | 54.3% | 44.8% |
East Midlands average 50.8% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Grantham drops
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Test day at Grantham
The centre is at Spitalgate Airfield, Blue Harbour, on the Somerby Hill side of Grantham. It is an airfield site rather than a shopfront, so give yourself time on the approach and follow the signage in.
No railway station falls inside the area this guide maps, and Grantham station is across the town, so nearly everyone arrives by car. Nothing is published about parking or the waiting room. On a site of this kind there is normally room to park, but treat that as typical rather than confirmed.
GOV.UK lists car tests, motorcycle module 2 on the road and ADI part 3 here. It publishes no accessibility line for this centre at all, so if you use a wheelchair or need step-free access, ring DVSA and ask before you book rather than turning up hoping. Booking, moving and cancelling are done only through GOV.UK. Arrive about ten minutes early with your licence. The examiner takes the signed declaration that the car is insured for the test and does the eyesight check outside. The wait here has been running well above the national median, at over sixteen weeks, so a slot is worth holding on to once you have one.
What DVSA publishes about Grantham
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carmotorcycle module 2 (on-road)ADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Other tests at Grantham
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 Grantham
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 Grantham.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Spitalgate Airfield, Blue HarbourGrantham NG31 7TX
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Melton MowbrayLE13 0UL · 25 km69.7%+19.7 vs GB23.3 wkswait
- Nottingham (Colwick )Nottingham · NG4 2JU · 33 km46.4%-3.6 vs GB8.3 wkswait
- LincolnLN6 3RT · 34 km52.1%+2.1 vs GB17.1 wkswait
- BostonPE21 8AL · 38 km50.7%+0.7 vs GB4.5 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Grantham
- Is Grantham an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 57.9% 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 Grantham?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Grantham was 16.3 weeks, and you had to look about 23.2 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 Grantham driving test centre?
- Grantham test centre is at Spitalgate Airfield, Blue Harbour, Grantham, NG31 7TX. 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 Grantham do a year?
- 7,318 car tests were conducted at Grantham in 2025/26, of which 4,237 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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