Winchester driving test centre
Christchurch Road, Winchester, SO23 9SY
Drive the 5 routes around Winchester before test day →
Key facts
- Winchester's pass rate was 52.2% in 2025/26 from 4,602 tests, 2.2 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 18 of 30 centres in South East (South East average 52.9%), a mid-table pass rates in the region.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 4.3 points, from 56.5% to 52.2%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 7.1 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 13 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 5.9 weeks.
- 28.4% 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.
Winchester is a traffic-light test more than a roundabout one. Thirty-seven sets of signals are tagged within two and a half kilometres of the centre, while the practice loops on this page carry only one to four roundabout entries each. What fills the time instead is turns: one loop has fifteen left turns, another fourteen rights. The centre is on Christchurch Road, south-west of the city, and the routes take in St Cross Road, the High Street, Romsey Road and Stockbridge Road as well as the residential streets between them. 36 per cent of the area is 20 mph, a high share, so much of the driving is at a limit that has to be held deliberately rather than settled into. The pass rate is a little above the national average but has drifted down since 2021.
Drive the Winchester test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 52 km in all, with 9 roundabouts and 127 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Winchester; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Winchester 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 · 127 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 Garnier Road11.6 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 12 right turns, 12 left turns and a stretch of Stockbridge Road.11.6 km · 28 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Romsey Road10.7 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 13 right turns, 14 left turns and a stretch of St Cross Road.10.7 km · 29 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Romsey Road9.1 km loop with 1 roundabout, 14 right turns, 12 left turns and a stretch of Olivers Battery Road North.9.1 km · 27 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 4 · via St Cross Road9.6 km loop with 1 roundabout, 10 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Garnier Road.9.6 km · 20 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 5 · via St Cross Road11.1 km loop with 1 roundabout, 7 right turns, 15 left turns and a stretch of Christchurch Road.11.1 km · 23 turns · 1 roundabout
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The mix here is 45 per cent at 30 mph and 36 per cent at 20, with a tail of faster road: 7 per cent at 40, 8 per cent at 60, a little at 70, and dual carriageway in the area. The 20 zones cover the historic core and much of the housing around it, and they catch people out, because a wide street at 20 does not feel like 20.
Thirty-seven sets of traffic signals are tagged within two and a half kilometres. That is a great many for a city this size, and it makes the same faults come round again and again: creeping over the stop line, moving off on green without checking the junction is clear, and taking the amber because something is close behind.
Roundabouts are the opposite story. Twelve mini-roundabouts are tagged in the area, and the named conventional ones are Spitfire, Pitt, Bushfield and Winnall Interchange, out on the edges rather than in the middle. The loops take in only one to four roundabout entries each, so a Winchester test can pass without a difficult roundabout at all. Do not read that as an easy route. The junction work simply moves into the turns instead, and the loops carry between seven and fourteen right turns apiece.
Christchurch Road, St Cross Road and Kingsgate Road give the routes their residential half, and the High Street, Romsey Road and Stockbridge Road the busier half. Eighteen schools sit inside the radius, which makes mid-afternoon slots in term time the ones to think about.
Manoeuvres are usually asked for on the quieter streets off Beaufort Road and Ranelagh Road, where the kerbs are straight.
Pass rate at Winchester, 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 | 4,602 | 52.2% | 53.4% | 51.0% |
| 2024/25 | 3,839 | 47.9% | 47.8% | 48.0% |
| 2023/24 | 6,218 | 49.1% | 49.7% | 48.3% |
| 2022/23 | 6,707 | 49.1% | 49.1% | 49.1% |
| 2021/22 | 5,793 | 56.5% | 57.5% | 55.3% |
| 2020/21 | 1,186 | 59.2% | 60.1% | 58.3% |
| 2019/20 | 3,334 | 49.6% | 53.4% | 46.3% |
| 2018/19 | 3,427 | 50.0% | 53.2% | 47.5% |
South East average 52.9% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Winchester
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 | 7.1 | 24 | 40 | 28.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 7.1 | 24 | 50 | 24.2% |
| Jun 2026 | 5.7 | 23.8 | 53 | 18.5% |
| May 2026 | 5.5 | 18.8 | 57 | 17.6% |
| Apr 2026 | 9.1 | 24 | 46 | 27.6% |
| Mar 2026 | 7.4 | 14.8 | 49 | 23.8% |
Tell me when the wait at Winchester drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Winchester
The centre is on Christchurch Road, in the residential streets south-west of the city centre. GOV.UK publishes that you can access this centre if you use a wheelchair. Car tests and ADI parts 2 and 3 are held here, so no motorcycle or lorry candidates share the site.
Parking is the practical problem at a centre like this one. It is not published, and a residential street near a city centre is not a place to arrive at the last minute. Instructors usually drop candidates and then find a space nearby, which is typical for this kind of centre rather than something DVSA states. If you are driving yourself, budget real time for it.
Winchester station is a little over a kilometre away, a walk of fifteen minutes or so, and the city centre is closer still.
Arrive about ten minutes before your slot. The examiner calls you by name, checks the licence and asks you to sign the declaration confirming the car is insured for the test. The eyesight check is done outside on Christchurch Road. The drive then starts with a move-off on a residential street, which means the first observation of the test happens before you have settled into anything.
Booking, moving and cancelling a test is only done through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Winchester
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 Winchester
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 Winchester
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 Winchester.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Christchurch RoadWinchester SO23 9SY
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Southampton (Maybush)Southampton · SO16 9FP · 17 km50.3%+0.3 vs GB13.1 wkswait
- BasingstokeRG22 4LR · 26 km56.8%+6.8 vs GB19.6 wkswait
- PortsmouthPO6 4SH · 29 km52.8%+2.8 vs GB13 wkswait
- Lee On The SolentLee on the Solent · PO13 9JY · 29 km63.2%+13.2 vs GB20 wkswait
- SalisburySP1 1LY · 33 km48.5%-1.5 vs GB5.3 wkswait
- Newport (Isle Of Wight)Newport · PO30 5WB · 38 km54.1%+4.1 vs GB8.9 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Winchester
- Is Winchester an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 52.2% 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 Winchester?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Winchester was 7.1 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 Winchester driving test centre?
- Winchester test centre is at Christchurch Road, Winchester, SO23 9SY. 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 Winchester do a year?
- 4,602 car tests were conducted at Winchester in 2025/26, of which 2,404 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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