Most driving tests at Wanstead end in a fail

Wanstead's driving test centre passed 44.4% of candidates in the year to March 2026, according to DVSA's own figures. The Great Britain average was 50.0%. That is 3,670 passes from 8,258 tests, in a year when 1,000,043 of the 1,998,621 tests across the country ended in a pass.

It matters if you, or a teenager you live with, are booking a test in E11. The short version is that Wanstead passes fewer people than the average centre, but the rate is creeping up and the gap to the national figure is narrower than it was. We have worked from DVSA's published tables, so every number below is theirs unless we say we did the sums.

At a glance

• Where: third-party listings, including Drive Test Finder and Orbit, give the address as 2 Devon House, Hermon Hill, Wanstead, E11 2AW. We couldn't load GOV.UK's find a driving test centre tool to confirm, so check it before you set off.
• Pass rate 2025-26: 44.4% (3,670 of 8,258 tests). Men 46.1%, women 41.7%.
• Great Britain: 50.0%. Men 50.8%, women 49.1%.
• First-attempt pass rate: 42.2% (1,699 of 4,024), against 50.5% nationally.
• Automatic tests: 42.1% (1,529 of 3,633).
• Median wait, September 2026: 13 weeks between booking and test.
• Getting there: Book Learn Pass's directions walk from Wanstead station along the High Street, then up Hermon Hill.

The trend

The rate has crept up each year since 2022-23. By our reading of DVSA's centre tables, Wanstead passed 38.8% in 2022-23, 40.3% in 2023-24 and 40.4% in 2024-25, before the jump to 44.4%. Over the same years the national rate went from 48.4% to 47.9%, 48.7% and 50.0%. So Wanstead was 9.6 points behind in 2022-23 and is 5.6 behind now.

That still leaves us towards the bottom of the table. By our count, Wanstead ranks 219th of the 260 centres that ran 1,000 or more tests in 2025-26. Among the 25 centres DVSA labels London that cleared that bar, only Goodmayes (43.7%), Belvedere (40.5%) and Chingford (39.9%) were lower. Sidcup topped the London list at 58.7%.

Neighbouring centres, for anyone weighing up a test further afield:

• Goodmayes: 43.7%, from 21,374 tests
• Chingford: 39.9%, from 13,120 tests
• Hornchurch: 46.3%, from 8,694 tests
• Loughton: 47.0%, from 7,376 tests

A pass rate is a blunt tool. It reflects who sits the test and how well prepared they are as much as the roads, so don't read it as a verdict on the examiners or the route. Still, 8,258 tests is a lot of people.

First attempts, automatics and who passes

First-attempt candidates did slightly worse than the all-attempts figure: 42.2% passed first time, against 50.5% across Britain, a gap of 8.3 points. In 2024-25 Wanstead's first-attempt rate was 39.3%, against 48.9% nationally.

Women pass at a lower rate here than men, which is also true nationally but not by this much. Wanstead's men passed at 46.1% (5,120 tests) and women at 41.7% (3,138 tests). Nationally the figures are 50.8% and 49.1%. That makes the local gap 4.3 points, against 1.7 for Britain.

Automatics are a big part of the local picture. DVSA counts 3,633 automatic tests at Wanstead in 2025-26, or 44.0% of the centre's total, against 29.5% across Britain (589,483 of 1,998,621). They passed at 42.1%, against 44.6% nationally. Our sums from DVSA's totals put the manual pass rate at about 46.3% here and 52.3% nationally, so automatic doesn't mean easier here, though the candidates in each group differ.

Waiting for a slot

The wait is the bigger frustration for most learners. DVSA's monthly availability table, last updated on 14 October 2026, gives Wanstead a median wait of 13 weeks between booking and test in September 2026. The typical centre in Britain was 12.4 weeks, so we are about average. Of the tests that took place in September, 42.6% were within 7 weeks of booking, and 38.4% were more than 21 weeks after.

The table also says 3,609 standard test slots were offered in the 24-week booking window, with 3,510 booked and 99 still free, measured on the last Monday of the month. Tests are booked on GOV.UK. The waiting-time table is updated monthly, but the pass-rate tables are annual, and the current set was published on 25 June 2026.

Learning round here

Redbridge starts building a 20mph zone with speed humps around Wanstead Park and Aldersbrook in the week of 2 November, which will take about 12 weeks, so practice drives there will feel different. Our Snaresbrook guide covers the next stop up the Central line, and the yellow box junction proposals are worth knowing about if you practise on Blake Hall Road.