Dorchester's driving test pass rate rose to 69% in 2025/26, against 50% across Britain. The typical wait from booking to test was 7.1 weeks in October.
Learners taking their car test in Dorchester passed 69% of the time in the year to March 2026. That is one of the highest rates in Britain, against 50% nationally.
The figures come from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s pass rates by test centre table (DRT122A). It covers every practical car test DVSA ran between April 2025 and March 2026.
Overview
- Pass rate: 69.0% at Dorchester in 2025/26, from 4,353 tests and 3,002 passes
- Great Britain: 50.0%, from 1,998,621 tests
- Rank: 16th of 318 test centres, and third of the 261 centres that ran more than 1,000 tests
- Waiting time: a median of 7.1 weeks between booking and taking a test in Dorchester in October 2026
How Dorchester compares
The 15 centres above Dorchester are mostly small, and 12 of them are in Scotland. The top one, the Isles of Scilly, ran eight tests all year.
Among busier centres, only two did better. Both ran fewer than half as many tests as Dorchester:
| Test centre | Tests | Passes | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melton Mowbray | 1,984 | 1,382 | 69.7% |
| Barrow-in-Furness | 1,699 | 1,183 | 69.6% |
| Dorchester | 4,353 | 3,002 | 69.0% |
The other centres Dorset learners use are further down the table:
- Yeovil: 63.4% from 7,493 tests
- Poole: 53.4% from 10,375 tests
- Salisbury: 48.5% from 6,630 tests
Women did slightly better than men in Dorchester. Women passed 1,457 of 2,094 tests (69.6%) and men passed 1,545 of 2,259 (68.4%).
A rate that has risen for three years
Dorchester’s pass rate has climbed each year since 2022/23. The same DVSA table gives:
| Year | Dorchester | Great Britain |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 59.5% | 45.9% |
| 2022/23 | 62.0% | 48.4% |
| 2023/24 | 63.5% | 47.9% |
| 2024/25 | 66.7% | 48.7% |
| 2025/26 | 69.0% | 50.0% |
Fewer tests were taken at the centre in 2025/26 than the year before: 4,353, down from 4,561.
DVSA’s tables record results, not reasons. The test is the same across the country, and the agency gives no explanation for why one centre’s rate differs from another’s.
How long you wait for a test in Dorchester
DVSA’s waiting time figures by test centre (DRT122F) were updated on 11 November with figures for October 2026. They cover tests run by DVSA’s own examiners.
For people who took their test in Dorchester in October:
- the median wait from booking to test was 7.1 weeks
- 48.9% took it within seven weeks of booking
- 19.6% had waited more than 21 weeks
That puts Dorchester 82nd shortest of the 317 centres with October figures. Half of those centres had a median wait of 11 weeks or more. Poole was shorter at 6.1 weeks, and Yeovil much longer at 17.3 weeks.
The same table measures how far ahead a learner has to look before at least 10% of a week’s appointments are still free. In Dorchester that was 21 weeks in October. DVSA notes that many people book sooner than that, because tests freed up by cancellations or extra examiner time appear in earlier weeks.
What it means for you
If you are learning to drive in west or south Dorset, the numbers point the right way on both counts. Dorchester passes more of its candidates than almost anywhere busy in Britain, and its typical wait is shorter than at most centres.
Two cautions apply. First, the pass rate describes everyone tested in Dorchester, not your own chances: being ready on the day matters more than the centre. Second, DVSA says data from April 2025 onwards is provisional and may be revised slightly.
Tests are booked, and moved to an earlier cancellation slot, on GOV.UK’s book your driving test service.
Sources: DVSA, car driving test data by test centre: DRT122A practical car pass rates by test centre (2025-26, published June 2026, national totals from the summary sheet) and DRT122F car driving test availability by test centre (October 2026, updated 11 November 2026). Rankings calculated by The Dorset Post from the 318 centres with 2025/26 results and the 317 with October 2026 waiting times.
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