The London areas with the shortest (and longest) driving test wait times

Learning to drive is a long slog. There’s the theory test you’ve got to pass, the manoeuvres that take you months to master and then, even when you feel ready to hit the road alone, you’ve got to wait weeks (and weeks and weeks) before you can get a test and be awarded a proper licence. 

Over the past few years, the average waiting period for a driving test in the UK has soared thanks to a backlog from things like the pandemic and the strike action by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union in 2022 and 2023. For example, if you took a test in Tottenham between April 2019 and March 2020, you’d likely have waited around 9 weeks. In 2022-23, the average waiting period there was 17.62 weeks. 

According to Route-Led, the average wait time for a driving test in London between April 2022 and March 2023 was 15.75 weeks – almost four months. But that time varies quite dramatically across the city’s different centres. Data collected by the company has revealed which of London’s test centres have the shortest waiting times. 

The shortest time people are waiting on a test is in Yeading, where the average waiting period is 8.42 weeks. Mitcham in the borough of Merton had the second shortest of 9.86 weeks. Hendon had the longest wait time of 23.08 weeks and the test centre in Pinner had the second longest wait time: 22.5 weeks.

London’s average driving test waiting times from April 2022 to March 2023 (shortest to longest)

1. Yeading: 8.42
2. Mitcham: 9.86
3. Chertsey: 10.16
4. Hither Green: 11.44
5. Brentwood: 12.4
6. Slough: 12.38
7. Isleworth: (Fleming Way) 12.56
8. Tolworth: 12.18
9. Uxbridge: 12.74
10. Barnet: 13.18
11. Loughton: 13.04
12. West Wickham: 13.26
13. Greenford: (Horsenden Lane) 13.9
14. Bromley: 14.94
15. Borehamwood: 15.5
16. Wanstead: 15.82
17. Enfield: (Innova Business Park) 15.94
18. Morden: 16.1
19. Erith: 16.2
20. Southall: 16.6
21. Barking: (Tanner Street) 16.68
22. Hornchurch: 17.08
23. Sidcup: 17.48
24. Chingford: 17.58
25. Tottenham: 17.62
26. Wood Green: 18.64
27. Mill Hill: 21.52
28. Goodmayes: 21.94
29. Pinner: 22.5
30. Hendon: 23.08

Hell plates: inside the UK’s driving test ‘black market’. 

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