Oban driving test centre
Cameron House, Albany Street, Oban, PA34 4AE
Drive the 5 routes around Oban before test day →
Key facts
- Oban's pass rate was 66.1% in 2025/26 from 322 tests, 16.1 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 15 of 67 centres in Scotland (Scotland average 49.3%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 16.8 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 3.3 points, from 62.8% to 66.1%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 15.4 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.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 22.1 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 6.7 weeks.
Oban is one of the smallest test centres in the country, a little over three hundred car tests a year against several thousand at a mainland town. That has two consequences. The examiners know every road on the loops, and slots are scarce: the median wait is about three and a half months, and the first week with real availability is close to six months out. The pass rate is high and has been climbing. The driving is town driving, more or less all of it, with about seven in ten roads at 30 and most of the rest at 20, no dual carriageway, and the sea alongside a good deal of it.
Drive the Oban test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 51 km in all, with 22 roundabouts and 91 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Oban; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Oban from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 51 km · 91 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
One payment, no renewal. Or £9.99 a month with a 3-day free trial. Cancel any time.
Everything else on PassRank, every centre, its pass rate, its waiting time and the forum, is free and needs no account.
- Route 1 · via Glenshellach Road9.4 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Glencruitten Road.9.4 km · 22 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Soroba Road10.5 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Corran Esplanade.10.5 km · 16 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Corran Esplanade10.8 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Gallanach Road.10.8 km · 21 turns · 6 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Soroba Road11.3 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of McCaig Road.11.3 km · 20 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Gallanach Road9.3 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 3 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Dunollie Road.9.3 km · 12 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.
Almost every route uses the front. Corran Esplanade runs north along the bay and Shore Street runs south into the harbour, and between them they carry the town's traffic, its parking and its pedestrians. Albany Street and Argyll Square link the two. There is only one set of traffic lights in the whole area, so priority is worked out at give-ways, at four mini-roundabouts, and by reading what the other driver is doing.
Behind the front the ground rises quickly. Glencruitten Road and McCaig Road are forty to fifty metres above the seafront within a mile of it, which makes hill starts and moving off at an angle a real part of a test here rather than a set piece done once on a flat side street. Combie Street and Dunollie Road are the connecting roads, and Dunollie Castle Road takes you north out of town.
Gallanach Road runs south along the water and is the closest thing to a rural stretch on a short loop, narrow in places, where meeting oncoming traffic means deciding early who gives way.
Seven in ten of the roads here are 30 mph and most of the rest are 20, so speed itself is not what fails people. Position and observation are. With only three schools in the whole area the school run matters less than at most centres. The pedestrians you meet are more likely to be visitors stepping off a kerb on the Esplanade without looking first.
Pass rate at Oban, 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 | 322 | 66.1% | 62.6% | 69.8% |
| 2024/25 | 287 | 61.3% | 66.7% | 57.1% |
| 2023/24 | 310 | 59.0% | 61.2% | 56.4% |
| 2022/23 | 285 | 65.3% | 71.8% | 58.1% |
| 2021/22 | 269 | 62.8% | 66.9% | 58.6% |
| 2019/20 | 321 | 59.5% | 62.9% | 56.2% |
| 2018/19 | 307 | 60.6% | 58.7% | 62.5% |
| 2017/18 | 349 | 52.7% | 58.7% | 48.5% |
Scotland average 49.3% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Oban
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 | 15.4 | 24 | 0 | 9.1% |
| Jul 2026 | 15.4 | 24 | 13 | 8.7% |
| Jun 2026 | 14.1 | 23.8 | 3 | 13.8% |
| May 2026 | 16.7 | 23.5 | 10 | 0% |
| Apr 2026 | 16.6 | 20 | 10 | 13.8% |
| Mar 2026 | 14.6 | 22.2 | 27 | 13.3% |
Tell me when the wait at Oban drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Oban
The centre is at Cameron House on Albany Street, in the town rather than on an estate outside it, and Oban station is about a hundred metres away. If you arrive by train or off a ferry you can walk to the door in a couple of minutes, which is rare for a test centre.
DVSA publishes that this centre can be accessed if you use a wheelchair. Car tests are the only type run here, and everything is booked, moved and cancelled through GOV.UK.
Parking is not published for this centre, and Albany Street is town-centre street parking, so plan on your instructor dropping you and then finding a space rather than expecting one outside. In summer the town is busy with visitors and the harbour front fills up, so leave more time than the distance suggests.
Because slots here are limited, a missed or cancelled test costs you months rather than weeks. If you are hoping for a cancellation, keep checking GOV.UK yourself rather than waiting to be offered something.
What DVSA publishes about Oban
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.
Learner reports from Oban
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 Oban.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Cameron House, Albany StreetOban PA34 4AE
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Isle of MullPA72 6JD · 31 km73.8%+23.8 vs GB21.6 wkswait
- InverarayInverary · PA32 8UY · 32 km69.4%+19.4 vs GB20.9 wkswait
- BallachulishBalachulish · PH49 4HP · 38 km69.2%+19.2 vs GB–wait
Questions learners ask about Oban
- Is Oban an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 66.1% 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 Oban?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Oban was 15.4 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 Oban driving test centre?
- Oban test centre is at Cameron House, Albany Street, Oban, PA34 4AE. 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 Oban do a year?
- 322 car tests were conducted at Oban in 2025/26, of which 213 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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