Northampton driving test centre
Gladstone Business Centre, Gladstone Road, Northampton, NN5 7QA
Drive the 5 routes around Northampton before test day →
Key facts
- Northampton's pass rate was 52.1% in 2025/26 from 13,539 tests, 2.1 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 11 of 20 centres in East Midlands (East Midlands average 50.8%), a mid-table pass rates in the region.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 4.3 points, from 47.8% to 52.1%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 7.9 weeks since booking (shorter than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 24 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 16.1 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 8.2 weeks.
- 24.5% 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.
Northampton is a test built out of ordinary junctions rather than one big feature. The centre sits in the Gladstone Business Centre on Gladstone Road, west of the town, and the practice loops on this page work the streets around it instead of any single road. One of them asks for 16 right turns in a little over ten kilometres. Roads at 30 mph make up more than four fifths of everything mapped within 2.5 km, so there is very little of the 20 mph zone work that dominates other centres and not much fast driving either. What replaces it is emerging: right out of a side road, right across oncoming traffic, and 21 mini-roundabouts spread through the same area. The pass rate has been climbing since 2021 and now sits above the national average.
Drive the Northampton test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 55 km in all, with 12 roundabouts and 114 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Northampton; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Northampton 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 · 114 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 Gladstone Road10.4 km loop with 1 roundabout, 16 right turns, 12 left turns and a stretch of Mill Lane.10.4 km · 29 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 2 · via Mill Lane12.1 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 12 right turns, 11 left turns and a stretch of Harlestone Road.12.1 km · 26 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Gladstone Road10.8 km loop with 1 roundabout, 12 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Spencer Bridge Road.10.8 km · 23 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 4 · via Mill Lane9.6 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Gladstone Road.9.6 km · 22 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Welford Road12.2 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 4 left turns and a stretch of Gladstone Road.12.2 km · 14 turns · 3 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The mini-roundabout is the Northampton habit. There are 21 of them mapped within 2.5 km of the centre, alongside 95 signalled junctions, and they turn up in the middle of otherwise ordinary residential roads where nobody expects them. The rules people forget are the ones examiners watch for: signal for the exit you are taking, give way to the right, and drive round the painted circle rather than over it. Four larger roundabouts are named in the area, at Rothersthorpe Road, Kingsland Gardens, Kingsley Road and Brampton Lane.
Spencer Bridge Road and Harlestone Road carry the busier half of the driving. These are 30 mph roads with side turnings close together, bus stops and parked cars narrowing them in places, and they are where the right turns pile up. One loop makes 16 of them. Turning right out of a side road onto a road like this, with a queue behind you, is the single most useful thing to practise before a Northampton test.
The A5076 and the A5199 provide the faster work, including the only dual carriageway driving on the loops. There is also a level crossing in the area, so a barrier down is a real possibility rather than a theoretical one.
Manoeuvres are usually set on the quieter residential streets between the main roads. Balmoral Road, Cecil Road, Balfour Road and Burleigh Road are that kind of road, with straight kerbs and enough parking on one side to make a pull-up on the right worth doing properly. The loops run between 9.6 and 12.2 kilometres.
Pass rate at Northampton, 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 | 13,539 | 52.1% | 52.9% | 51.0% |
| 2024/25 | 12,825 | 50.4% | 50.7% | 50.0% |
| 2023/24 | 12,392 | 49.2% | 50.4% | 47.9% |
| 2022/23 | 11,804 | 47.7% | 48.8% | 46.4% |
| 2021/22 | 9,732 | 47.8% | 52.2% | 43.4% |
| 2020/21 | 2,650 | 48.9% | 54.4% | 43.2% |
| 2019/20 | 9,659 | 44.8% | 49.0% | 41.0% |
| 2018/19 | 9,005 | 48.7% | 53.8% | 44.4% |
East Midlands average 50.8% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Northampton
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 | 7.9 | 24 | 49 | 24.5% |
| Jul 2026 | 7.9 | 24 | 49 | 31.8% |
| Jun 2026 | 8.6 | 23.4 | 47 | 30% |
| May 2026 | 10.6 | 24 | 43 | 36.5% |
| Apr 2026 | 12.3 | 24 | 39 | 37% |
| Mar 2026 | 8.9 | 24 | 46 | 31.3% |
Tell me when the wait at Northampton drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Northampton
Gladstone Business Centre is a working estate unit on Gladstone Road, so look for the DVSA signage rather than a shopfront. GOV.UK confirms the centre is accessible if you use a wheelchair, and it runs car tests along with ADI part 2 and part 3. Nothing is published about parking, which is normal for a unit on an industrial estate. What is typical is that instructors drop candidates at the door and park on the estate roads nearby, so allow a couple of minutes for that rather than assuming a space outside.
Northampton station is a kilometre and a half away, close enough to walk if you have to, though most candidates arrive with an instructor. The wait here is one of the better ones in the region and it has come down sharply over the past year, so a cancellation slot is worth watching for.
Arrive around ten minutes before your slot. The examiner calls your name, checks your licence and asks you to sign the declaration that the car is insured for the test. The eyesight check is done outside on the estate before you get in, and the drive starts on Gladstone Road. Tests are booked, moved and cancelled only through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Northampton
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.
Other tests at Northampton
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 Northampton
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 Northampton.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Gladstone Business Centre, Gladstone RoadNorthampton NN5 7QA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- WellingboroughNN8 3RU · 14 km60.0%+10.0 vs GB21.4 wkswait
- KetteringNN15 6NL · 19 km49.1%-0.9 vs GB7.3 wkswait
- RugbyCV22 7DH · 29 km51.4%+1.4 vs GB9.4 wkswait
- BletchleyMK3 6DH · 31 km51.5%+1.5 vs GB14.6 wkswait
- BedfordMK41 7NY · 32 km53.7%+3.7 vs GB27.1 wkswait
- BanburyOX16 9PA · 37 km41.3%-8.7 vs GB18.1 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Northampton
- Is Northampton an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 52.1% 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 Northampton?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Northampton was 7.9 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 Northampton driving test centre?
- Northampton test centre is at Gladstone Business Centre, Gladstone Road, Northampton, NN5 7QA. 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 Northampton do a year?
- 13,539 car tests were conducted at Northampton in 2025/26, of which 7,050 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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