Lichfield driving test centre
Lower Sanford Street, Lichfield, WS13 6RB
Drive the 5 routes around Lichfield before test day →
Key facts
- Lichfield's pass rate was 53% in 2025/26 from 5,944 tests, 3 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 7 of 26 centres in West Midlands (West Midlands average 46.2%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 6.8 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 8.8 points, from 44.2% to 53%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 20.4 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 24 weeks ahead.
- 49.4% 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.
Lichfield gives you more different speed limits than most tests manage. Within two and a half kilometres of the centre the tagged roads split across 20, 30, 40, 60 and 70 mph, and five A-roads pass through the area, including the A38 as dual carriageway. That is the thing to prepare for. The centre itself is on Lower Sandford Street, a short walk from the cathedral city centre, so the routes start in narrow streets with parked cars and pedestrians, then open out onto Sainte Foy Avenue, the Western By-Pass and Walsall Road. Roundabouts come thick: four of the five practice loops on this page carry ten or more. The pass rate has climbed a long way since 2021 and now sits well above the West Midlands average.
Drive the Lichfield test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 52 km in all, with 50 roundabouts and 127 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Lichfield; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Lichfield 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 · 127 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 Walsall Road10.1 km loop with 11 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Sainte Foy Avenue.10.1 km · 24 turns · 11 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Sainte Foy Avenue10.1 km loop with 12 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Claypit Lane.10.1 km · 29 turns · 12 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Walsall Road12.8 km loop with 10 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Beacon Street.12.8 km · 31 turns · 10 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Western By-Pass9.9 km loop with 11 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Sainte Foy Avenue.9.9 km · 23 turns · 11 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Walsall Road9.2 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Anson Avenue.9.2 km · 20 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 city half of the routes runs on Lower Sandford Street, Bird Street, Beacon Street, Swan Road and The Friary. These are older streets, narrow in places, with parked cars, side turnings close together and pedestrians who step out near the cathedral quarter. Seventeen signal-controlled junctions are tagged within two and a half kilometres of the centre, and most of them are here. Reading which lane a signal serves, and stopping properly at a stop line rather than creeping over it, is the everyday work of this part of the test.
The other half is fast. Sainte Foy Avenue, the Western By-Pass and Walsall Road carry the ring of the city, roughly a quarter of the roads tagged nearby are 40 mph, and the A38 is dual carriageway. Joining that, holding a lane while traffic passes at speed, and losing the speed again at the other end is what separates candidates here.
Roundabouts join the two halves. Ten mini-roundabouts sit in the area along with conventional roundabouts at The Friary, Deykin Road, Sainte Foy Avenue and Swinfen Interchange, and four of the five practice loops on this page carry ten or more roundabouts each. On the mini-roundabouts, go round the circle and signal off; on the interchanges, get the lane right on the approach because changing it mid-roundabout is not a small fault.
Twenty schools sit within the same radius, more than the size of the city suggests, so a mid-afternoon slot puts you into school traffic on the residential streets where manoeuvres are asked for.
Waiting time for a test at Lichfield
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 | 20.4 | 24 | 33 | 49.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 20.4 | 24 | 27 | 48.9% |
| Jun 2026 | 17.1 | 24 | 28 | 43.6% |
| May 2026 | 21.1 | 24 | 17 | 50.7% |
| Apr 2026 | 23 | 24 | 16 | 52.5% |
| Mar 2026 | 21.3 | 20.8 | 24 | 50.4% |
Pass rate at Lichfield, 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 | 5,944 | 53.0% | 54.4% | 51.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8,490 | 48.6% | 50.2% | 46.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8,261 | 47.5% | 50.2% | 44.7% |
| 2022/23 | 7,562 | 47.2% | 49.1% | 45.3% |
| 2021/22 | 6,981 | 44.2% | 46.0% | 42.4% |
| 2020/21 | 1,960 | 52.1% | 53.9% | 50.6% |
| 2019/20 | 6,917 | 48.4% | 52.6% | 45.0% |
| 2018/19 | 7,683 | 50.3% | 54.8% | 46.6% |
West Midlands average 46.2% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Lichfield drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Lichfield
The centre is on Lower Sandford Street, close enough to the middle of Lichfield that the routes are in traffic from the first junction. Lichfield City station is about seven hundred metres away, which is one of the shorter walks to any test centre, so arriving by train is genuinely practical here.
GOV.UK publishes that you can access this centre if you use a wheelchair. It lists car tests only, so unlike the bigger regional centres there are no motorcycle or vocational candidates sharing the waiting room.
Parking is not published, and a city-centre street address is the kind of place where it is usually tight. Instructors commonly drop candidates at the door and park nearby. If you are driving yourself, plan on a side street or a public car park and a short walk.
Tests are booked, moved and cancelled through GOV.UK only. The wait here runs over twenty weeks, which is well above the national median, so a booked date is worth protecting.
The examiner checks your licence, asks you to sign the declaration that the car is insured for the test, and does the eyesight check outside. The drive begins in a 30 with parked cars on both sides, so the move-off and the first mirror check are watched closely.
What DVSA publishes about Lichfield
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
- DVSA states you can access this centre in a wheelchair.
Other tests at Lichfield
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 Lichfield
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 Lichfield.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Lower Sanford StreetLichfield WS13 6RB
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield)Sutton Coldfield · B73 5UB · 15 km44.1%-5.9 vs GB15.1 wkswait
- Birmingham (Kingstanding)Birmingham · B44 9UL · 16 km48.5%-1.5 vs GB23 wkswait
- Burton on TrentBurton · DE14 2TG · 17 km54.7%+4.7 vs GB17 wkswait
- WednesburyWS10 9HN · 19 km35.0%-15.0 vs GB10.3 wkswait
- FeatherstoneWV10 7JD · 19 km36.4%-13.6 vs GB11.9 wkswait
- WolverhamptonWV4 6JX · 22 km34.3%-15.7 vs GB12.7 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Lichfield
- Is Lichfield an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 53% 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 Lichfield?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Lichfield was 20.4 weeks, and you had to look about 24 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 Lichfield driving test centre?
- Lichfield test centre is at Lower Sanford Street, Lichfield, WS13 6RB. 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 Lichfield do a year?
- 5,944 car tests were conducted at Lichfield in 2025/26, of which 3,153 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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