Upton driving test centre
Arrowe Park Rd, Upton, CH49 0UF
Drive the 5 routes around Upton before test day →
Key facts
- Upton's pass rate was 52.6% in 2025/26 from 10,772 tests, 2.6 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 13 of 31 centres in North West (North West average 49.0%), a mid-table pass rates in the region, 3.6 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 2.9 points, from 49.7% to 52.6%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 12.1 weeks since booking; the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 18.8 weeks ahead.
- 25.8% 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.
Upton is a roundabout test. Two of the five practice loops on this page contain five roundabouts each, another has four, and the shortest still has two, which is a density you normally only find on new towns and bypass routes. The reason is the road layout on this part of the Wirral. Upton sits where the bypass, Arrowe Park Road, Greasby Road and the approach to Arrowe Park Hospital all meet, and the junctions between them were built as roundabouts rather than traffic lights. Candidates come from Upton, Greasby, Moreton, Woodchurch, Noctorum and Birkenhead. The loops are short, from under seven kilometres to a little over ten, so the roundabouts arrive one after another with very little quiet road in between.
Drive the Upton test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 43 km in all, with 18 roundabouts and 90 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Upton; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Upton from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 43 km · 90 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 Arrowe Brook Road8.3 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Arrowe Park Road.8.3 km · 25 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Upton Bypass7.8 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 2 left turns and a stretch of Greasby Road.7.8 km · 17 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Moreton Road9.6 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 1 left turn and a stretch of Hoole Road.9.6 km · 11 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Greasby Road6.8 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Upton Road.6.8 km · 16 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Upton Road10.3 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Arrowe Park Road.10.3 km · 21 turns · 5 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The roundabouts are the test. Across the practice loops on this page they sit on a handful of roads, and if you learn these you have learned most of what Upton asks:
- Arrowe Park Road, including the hospital approach
- Upton Bypass, the fastest road on any of the loops
- Upton Road and Leeswood Road
- Greasby Road, Houghton Road, New Hey Road and Ackers Road
What makes them harder than a simple count suggests is that they are different kinds of roundabout doing different jobs. The bypass junctions are large, multi-lane and taken at speed, so lane choice has to be made from the approach signs rather than from the markings under your wheels. The ones inside the village are smaller, with poor visibility to the right and traffic that appears late. Signalling the exit properly matters at both, and it is the exit signal, not the approach one, that gets missed.
Between the junctions the driving is suburban and unremarkable. Arrowe Brook Road, Moreton Road, Frankby Road and Hoole Road are ordinary residential roads at thirty, and the estate streets around Pemberton Road, Caulfield Drive and Windermere Road are where manoeuvres are usually asked for. They are wide enough for a bay park or a pull-up on the right to be fair rather than cruel.
The trap here is fatigue of a particular kind. After the fourth or fifth roundabout, candidates stop checking the second mirror and start taking the exit lane on assumption. Practise a loop that strings several together, and make yourself do the full routine at every one.
Pass rate at Upton, 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 | 10,772 | 52.6% | 52.5% | 52.7% |
| 2024/25 | 10,893 | 50.0% | 48.4% | 52.5% |
| 2023/24 | 10,289 | 47.6% | 47.3% | 48.1% |
| 2022/23 | 8,698 | 48.6% | 49.6% | 47.4% |
| 2021/22 | 7,647 | 49.7% | 51.4% | 48.0% |
| 2020/21 | 1,730 | 56.0% | 60.7% | 51.6% |
| 2019/20 | 6,579 | 45.7% | 49.1% | 42.7% |
| 2018/19 | 6,691 | 47.0% | 50.7% | 43.7% |
North West average 49% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Upton
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 | 12.1 | 18.8 | 43 | 25.8% |
| Jul 2026 | 12.1 | 21 | 36 | 23.2% |
| Jun 2026 | 12.6 | 22.2 | 38 | 24.1% |
| May 2026 | 9.3 | 23 | 44 | 19.5% |
| Apr 2026 | 8.4 | 23.5 | 44 | 20.3% |
| Mar 2026 | 7.7 | 23.8 | 47 | 18.2% |
Tell me when the wait at Upton drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Upton
The centre is on Arrowe Park Road, a few minutes from the hospital of the same name. Parking is available for candidates, and there are male, female and disabled toilets inside. Ramp access into the building is provided for wheelchair users.
Upton station is roughly six hundred metres away on the Bidston to Wrexham line, which makes public transport a realistic option if you are not arriving in your instructor's car. Coming by road, most people leave the motorway at junction two and take the bypass in.
The centre runs car tests and ADI part 2 and part 3 tests. Booking, moving and cancelling all happen through GOV.UK.
Once the examiner has checked your licence, taken the insurance declaration and done the eyesight check, the drive starts on Arrowe Park Road itself. That is a busy road with hospital traffic on it, including ambulances, so the move-off is into something live rather than into an empty side street. Watch for vehicles pulling out of the hospital approach and for buses stopping ahead of you in the first few hundred metres.
What DVSA publishes about Upton
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.
- On the day
- Due to significant roadworks around Upton Test Centre, tests booked at Upton Test Centre between Friday 18 September and Friday 30 October 2026 will be conducted at Wallasey Test Centre. The address is: Wallasey Test Centre 17c King Street Wallasey CH44 8AT
Learner reports from Upton
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 Upton.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Arrowe Park RdUpton CH49 0UF
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- WallaseyCH44 8AT · 6.4 km54.3%+4.3 vs GB20.5 wkswait
- Norris Green (Liverpool)Norris Green · L11 5BR · 13 km37.8%-12.2 vs GB15.3 wkswait
- Speke (Liverpool)Liverpool · L19 2QR · 15 km40.5%-9.5 vs GB8.3 wkswait
- ChesterCH1 6LT · 18 km47.3%-2.7 vs GB14.4 wkswait
- Widnes (Liverpool)Widnes · WA8 8PT · 22 km42.7%-7.3 vs GB6.9 wkswait
- St Helens (Liverpool)Liverpool · WA9 1NS · 26 km40.9%-9.1 vs GB6.6 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Upton
- Is Upton an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 52.6% 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 Upton?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Upton was 12.1 weeks, and you had to look about 18.8 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 Upton driving test centre?
- Upton test centre is at Arrowe Park Rd, Upton, CH49 0UF. 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 Upton do a year?
- 10,772 car tests were conducted at Upton in 2025/26, of which 5,667 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.
Drive Upton’s 5 test routes in 3D3 days free, then £9.99/month · or £14.99 once for 90 days
Try free