Sheffield driving test centre
DVSA name: Sheffield (Middlewood Road) · 508, Middlewood Road, Sheffield, S6 1TQ
Drive the 5 routes around Sheffield before test day →
Key facts
- Sheffield's pass rate was 48.7% in 2025/26 from 10,442 tests, in line with the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 17 of 27 centres in Yorkshire and The Humber (Yorkshire and The Humber average 50.4%), a mid-table pass rates in the region, 1.7 points below it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 2.8 points, from 45.9% to 48.7%.
- Male candidates passed at 50.6% and female candidates at 46.6%, a gap of 4 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 18.6 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 15 weeks, so waits have grown by about 3.6 weeks.
Two roundabout manoeuvres in about 52 km of practice loops. That is all Middlewood Road asks of you. What replaces them is a steady diet of ordinary junctions on hills, with tram tracks running down the middle of the main road.
The centre is a unit at 508 Middlewood Road, in Hillsborough, north-west of the city. Trams pass the door. Nearly two thirds of the tagged roads within a couple of miles are 20 mph and most of the rest are 30, so nothing here is fast. What is demanding is the ground: gradients steep enough that hill starts are routine rather than a set piece, and 73 signal-controlled junctions in the same radius, which is a dense count for a centre this size.
Drive the Sheffield test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 52 km in all, with 2 roundabouts and 108 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Sheffield; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Sheffield 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 · 108 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 Wordsworth Avenue11.1 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Middlewood Road.11.1 km · 23 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Worrall Road10.0 km loop with 12 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Fox Hill Road.10.0 km · 22 turns
- Route 3 · via Middlewood Road9.3 km loop with 7 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Worrall Road.9.3 km · 16 turns
- Route 4 · via Middlewood Road10.7 km loop with 11 right turns, 11 left turns and a stretch of Leppings Lane.10.7 km · 22 turns
- Route 5 · via Worrall Road10.7 km loop with 10 right turns, 15 left turns and a stretch of Fox Hill Road.10.7 km · 25 turns
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Middlewood Road is the road the centre is on, and most loops keep returning to it. It carries tram tracks, and they change how you drive. Cross them as square as you can, never straddle one to squeeze past a parked car, and take care when they are wet, because the bike ahead of you will be treating them as a hazard too. Hillsborough Corner, where the tram routes meet, is the busiest point on the whole route.
Leppings Lane, Penistone Road North and Langsett Avenue carry the faster traffic, and Penistone Road North is the one stretch where traffic moves properly. Keeping pace without drifting over the limit is the judgement it asks for. Worrall Road and Wadsley Lane climb away from the valley.
The gradients are the defining feature. Fox Hill Road, Catch Bar Lane and Wordsworth Avenue sit on the slopes above Hillsborough, and a hill start on a narrow street with cars parked both sides is a normal part of a test here rather than an unlucky draw. Winn Gardens and Winn Close are where the reversing manoeuvres tend to be set, several of those on a slope as well.
Signal-controlled junctions are the other constant. With 73 of them within a couple of miles and only four mini-roundabouts, this is a test of traffic lights and give-way junctions rather than roundabouts. Amber gambles and creeping over stop lines are the faults that produces.
If you practise one thing, make it moving off uphill on a camber with a parked car ahead and something coming the other way. That appears on almost every loop, and a stall costs you the fault and your composure together.
Waiting time for a test at Sheffield
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 | 18.6 | 24 | 36 | 37.3% |
| Jul 2026 | 18.6 | 24 | 29 | 44.2% |
| Jun 2026 | 13.3 | 24 | 38 | 38.6% |
| May 2026 | 12.4 | 24 | 40 | 38.4% |
| Apr 2026 | 9.7 | 24 | 43 | 34.8% |
| Mar 2026 | 13.8 | 24 | 40 | 37.2% |
Pass rate at Sheffield, 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 | 10,442 | 48.7% | 50.6% | 46.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9,864 | 47.5% | 48.4% | 46.3% |
| 2023/24 | 10,612 | 42.7% | 45.1% | 40.2% |
| 2022/23 | 8,099 | 43.7% | 45.4% | 41.9% |
| 2021/22 | 6,467 | 45.9% | 48.1% | 43.8% |
| 2020/21 | 1,896 | 46.4% | 50.9% | 42.3% |
| 2019/20 | 8,768 | 43.2% | 47.8% | 39.2% |
| 2018/19 | 9,057 | 42.4% | 46.9% | 38.7% |
Yorkshire and The Humber average 50.4% · GB 50%
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Test day at Sheffield
The centre is at 508 Middlewood Road, in a run of shops and units on a busy main road. It is easy to drive past, so look for the number. Parking is in the yard at the rear, which is shared with examiners and is genuinely tight, so do not count on a space being free and do not arrive with a lot of time to spare. Male, female and accessible toilets are there, and the entrance has ramp access.
Public transport is unusually good for a test centre. The Supertram stops on Middlewood Road itself, so arriving without a car is straightforward.
Two things about the location shape the day. The first is that pulling out of the yard puts you directly into main-road traffic with trams involved, so the opening of the test is immediately demanding. The second is Hillsborough stadium. On a match day the roads around the centre change completely, with closures, heavy pedestrian traffic and queues that do not behave normally. If your test falls on one, ask your instructor to check the fixture beforehand rather than discovering it on the way in.
Waits here are among the longer ones, well above the national median. Rotherham and Barnsley are both within twenty kilometres and both currently quicker, which is worth knowing before you book.
What DVSA publishes about Sheffield
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 3
- Wheelchair access
- DVSA states you can access this centre in a wheelchair.
Learner reports from Sheffield
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 Sheffield.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
508, Middlewood RoadSheffield S6 1TQ
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- RotherhamS61 4RL · 11 km53.1%+3.1 vs GB9.5 wkswait
- Sheffield (Handsworth)Sheffield · S13 9LT · 11 km44.1%-5.9 vs GB6 wkswait
- BarnsleyS75 2DH · 15 km58.5%+8.5 vs GB5.4 wkswait
- ChesterfieldS41 7LT · 20 km56.2%+6.2 vs GB4.9 wkswait
- WorksopS81 8BW · 26 km55.2%+5.2 vs GB11 wkswait
- WakefieldOssett · WF5 9TR · 30 km45.4%-4.6 vs GB7.6 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Sheffield
- Is Sheffield an easy test centre?
- It is close to the national average: 48.7% of tests were passed in 2025/26 against 50.0% across Great Britain.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Sheffield?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Sheffield was 18.6 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 Sheffield driving test centre?
- Sheffield test centre is at 508, Middlewood Road, Sheffield, S6 1TQ. 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 Sheffield do a year?
- 10,442 car tests were conducted at Sheffield in 2025/26, of which 5,085 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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