Wellingborough driving test centre
Glamis Hall, Goldsmith Road, Wellingborough, NN8 3RU
Drive the 5 routes around Wellingborough before test day →
Key facts
- Wellingborough's pass rate was 60% in 2025/26 from 1,450 tests, 10 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 2 of 20 centres in East Midlands (East Midlands average 50.8%), one of the higher pass rates in the region, 9.2 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 5.1 points, from 65.1% to 60%.
- Male candidates passed at 57.5% and female candidates at 62.3%, a gap of 4.8 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 21.4 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 18 weeks, so waits have grown by about 3.4 weeks.
Wellingborough passes 60 per cent, 44th of the 302 centres ranked and second of the 20 centres in the East Midlands, 9.2 points above the regional average. It is one of the few places where women pass more often than men — 62.3 per cent against 57.5. The driving is roundabouts: every one of the practice loops on this page carries at least seven, and one takes in twelve in 12.6 kilometres, with 26 sets of traffic signals and seven mini-roundabouts around the centre besides. Fifty-five per cent of the roads here are 30 mph and 19 per cent 40. The catch is the wait, 21.4 weeks and five weeks longer than a year ago, though slots open up sooner than that suggests.
Drive the Wellingborough test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 56 km in all, with 43 roundabouts and 111 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Wellingborough; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Wellingborough from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 56 km · 111 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 Park Farm Way11.6 km loop with 10 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Sywell Road.11.6 km · 26 turns · 10 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Sywell Road12.6 km loop with 12 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Park Farm Way.12.6 km · 25 turns · 12 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Park Farm Way12.7 km loop with 7 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 4 left turns and a stretch of Sywell Road.12.7 km · 19 turns · 7 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Park Farm Way9.7 km loop with 7 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 4 left turns and a stretch of Sywell Road.9.7 km · 22 turns · 7 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Park Farm Way9.7 km loop with 7 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 4 left turns and a stretch of Niort Way.9.7 km · 19 turns · 7 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Roundabouts are what a Wellingborough test is made of. Every one of the practice loops on this page carries at least seven, three of them carry seven exactly, one takes in ten and another twelve — twelve roundabouts in 12.6 kilometres, which is roughly one a kilometre for the whole drive. Seven mini-roundabouts sit within a mile and a half of the centre as well, and 26 sets of traffic signals.
That density changes what gets marked. Very little of your test will be spent deciding when to move off from a stop line; most of it is approach, lane and exit, over and over. Choosing the left lane and then wanting the far exit is the fault that ends tests here, and signalling off a roundabout too late is the one that costs marks without ending them.
The speeds are ordinary by comparison: 55 per cent of the roads around the centre are 30 mph, 19 per cent 40, 12 per cent 60 and 8 per cent 20, with a stretch of dual carriageway and the A509 and A510 on the edges.
Sywell Road, Park Farm Way, Queensway, Northampton Road, Hardwick Road, Stanwell Way and Minerva Way carry the longer stretches; Goldsmith Road, Shelley Road, Burns Road, Longfellow Road and Rutherford Drive are the estate roads where the manoeuvres go. There are 21 schools in the area and no level crossings.
Waiting time for a test at Wellingborough
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 | 21.4 | 24 | 20 | 58.9% |
| Jul 2026 | 21.4 | 12.8 | 24 | 52.9% |
| Jun 2026 | 23 | 24 | 15 | 60.1% |
| May 2026 | 19.1 | 21.3 | 15 | 46.2% |
| Apr 2026 | 18.4 | 19.3 | 18 | 45.5% |
| Mar 2026 | 22 | 24 | 17 | 53.2% |
Pass rate at Wellingborough, 2012/13 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 | 1,450 | 60.0% | 57.5% | 62.3% |
| 2024/25 | 1,477 | 55.1% | 56.0% | 54.3% |
| 2023/24 | 1,310 | 53.0% | 53.6% | 52.5% |
| 2022/23 | 1,146 | 54.1% | 56.1% | 52.5% |
| 2021/22 | 1,110 | 65.1% | 66.4% | 64.1% |
| 2020/21 | 45 | 64.4% | 68.0% | 60.0% |
| 2019/20 | 1,099 | 60.8% | 68.9% | 55.9% |
| 2018/19 | 1,278 | 61.0% | 67.2% | 57.5% |
East Midlands average 50.8% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Wellingborough drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Wellingborough
The centre is at Glamis Hall on Goldsmith Road, NN8 3RU, a community hall on a residential estate rather than a purpose-built test centre. Car tests only are conducted here.
No station is close enough to be practical, so almost everyone arrives by car or with an instructor.
Parking is not published for this site, and Goldsmith Road is residential. The considerate thing — and the thing your examiner will see you do — is to leave the car clear of driveways on a nearby street and walk the last part rather than filling the hall's own spaces.
The wait was a median of 21.4 weeks for tests taken in July 2026, well above the national 11.9, and it has grown by about five weeks in a year. But the first week with a tenth of its slots still free was only 12.8 weeks ahead, which is shorter than the median wait — that gap means dates do open up, and it is worth checking for a cancellation rather than taking the first thing offered.
April returned 61.7 per cent and January 52.1, a real spread across the year. If the date matters more, Kettering is 8.5 kilometres away at 49.1 per cent and 7.3 weeks, and Northampton 14.1 kilometres at 52.1 per cent and 7.9 weeks. Booking and cancelling is on GOV.UK only.
What DVSA publishes about Wellingborough
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
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Learner reports from Wellingborough
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 Wellingborough.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Glamis Hall, Goldsmith RoadWellingborough NN8 3RU
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- KetteringNN15 6NL · 8.5 km49.1%-0.9 vs GB7.3 wkswait
- NorthamptonNN5 7QA · 14 km52.1%+2.1 vs GB7.9 wkswait
- BedfordMK41 7NY · 24 km53.7%+3.7 vs GB27.1 wkswait
- BletchleyMK3 6DH · 34 km51.5%+1.5 vs GB14.6 wkswait
- RugbyCV22 7DH · 39 km51.4%+1.4 vs GB9.4 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Wellingborough
- Is Wellingborough an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 60% 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 Wellingborough?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Wellingborough was 21.4 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 Wellingborough driving test centre?
- Wellingborough test centre is at Glamis Hall, Goldsmith Road, Wellingborough, NN8 3RU. 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 Wellingborough do a year?
- 1,450 car tests were conducted at Wellingborough in 2025/26, of which 870 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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