Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
If You Want to Pass Your Driving Test Don't Take it in Wood Green
Insurance broker Marmalade claim to have analysed 10 years of pass rate data from every driving test centre in the UK to reveal the ten spots with the highest and lowest pass rates, and the best and worst months to take your test in each location.
The Test Centre with the fourth lowest pass rate on the country was Wood Green with a pass rate of just over 36%.
That compared with a 49% pass rate chalked up by the best scoring tetst centre in Ashford Middlesex.
The company offer a 'pass rate probability' calculator, which I assume is intended more as a bit of fun than as a practical tool (though their small footnote at the bottom of the calculator page suggested that perhaps the young drivers at who it is aimed take it rather more seriously).
Full results below
| Position | Driving Test Centre | Pass rate (based on 10 years of data) |
| 1 | Ashford -London Middlesex | 49.21% |
| 2 | Tolworth | 49.09% |
| 3 | Carshalton | 47.67% |
| 4 | Uxbridge | 46.63% |
| 5 | Pinner | 45.74% |
| 6 | Hendon | 44.88% |
| 7 | Sidcup | 44.16% |
| 8 | Isleworth | 43.30% |
| 9 | Hornchurch (Romford) | 42.51% |
| 10 | Mill Hill | 41.99% |
| 11 | Greenford -Whitton Ave East | 41.29% |
| 12 | Southall | 40.95% |
| 13 | Hither Green | 40.66% |
| 14 | Hayes | 40.58% |
| 15 | Croydon | 40.36% |
| 16 | Bromley Court | 40.05% |
| 17 | Greenford -Horsenden Lane | 39.34% |
| 18 | Chingford | 37.73% |
| 19 | Tottenham | 37.58% |
| 20 | Enfield -Innova Business Park | 37.41% |
| 21 | Goodmayes (Ilford) | 37.18% |
| 22 | Barking -Town Quay | 36.49% |
| 23 | Wood Green | 36.44% |
| 24 | Barnet | 35.49% |
| 25 | Barking -Tanner Street | 35.38% |
| 26 | Wanstead | 32.13% |
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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That's quite right. Add to this the utter mindf**k that is the Great Cambridge Roundabout and you have a pretty good idea of the complicating factors. The whole ethnicity point is complete nonsense. Many of these centres are in quite diverse areas so I can't see how this alone would account for a more than 50% difference in pass rates.
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We are taking about weighted averages here. The fact that ethnic minorities tend to do worse doesn’t explain why there are lower pass rates overall. Gender is irrelevant because at a borough level you’ll have a 49/51 split or whatever is the ratio these days. So if you have a minority that’s 10% of the population and has a 20% lower pass rate you are looking at a tiny net effect. Notwithstanding the minority point is moot as many of these boroughs are similarly diverse.
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I'm not making up statistics, just a basic math example of how implausible it is to assume ethnicity is a major factor.
Imagine a borough of 10 people, 9 of which stand a 100% chance of passing the exam and 1 who stands a 80% chance of passing the exam - 20% lower than the highest odds (per the above table.) That would make the weighted average pass rate 98%. Add another 10% of the population and the overall average is 96%. Pass rates don't vary by more than 20% so, emphatically, no. Ethnicity doesn't explain fail rates.
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Hahahaha. I’m using a well understood math principle to illustrate how what you suggest is not plausible, none of the numbers are actual stats. I’d agree it’s a combination of factors, of which ethnicity would be negligible - as would be gender.
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Permalink Reply by Bethany Burrow Atherton on
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I took mine in Hendon for this exact reason - Wood Green centre's had an anecdotally bad rep for pass rates since I've lived in London (17 years).
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While that's true (both Spiderman and Hugh), it may well be as much a reflection on the standard of drivers in the area around the test centre as it is on the candidates and/or the examiners - if the driving is generally poor, candidates are more likely to come across more hazards that they need to deal with, pushing up the risk of making an error that causes them to fail. That said, I had to deal with both a fire engine and a horse on the test I passed in Hendon!
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Permalink Reply by Spiderman on
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Yes, it could be either, or a combination. Worth noting that pass rates vary quite considerably by gender, age and ethnicity though, so you'd expect differences between test centres based on different demographics in an area.
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Permalink Reply by Alyson on
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Local conditions may have something to do with it - congested High Streets, too many buses, nightmare junctions etc. I passed in Isleworth many years ago, a doddle compared with Fulham/Putney/Wandsworth where I had lessons!
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I was walking past there yesterday and noticed that the very first thing you encounter when leaving the test centre and going on to Lordship Lane is a marked out bus stop. Wonder how many people fail in just the first few seconds.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I would never pass in London. I did my test in a little country town in New Zealand, no traffic lights, virtually no traffic. The worst they could throw at me was a short 80km/h section.
After I moved here I sent my NZ licence, photo and a cheque to the DVLA and my UK licence came back.
I hate driving which is part of the reason I live in London. No need for a car.
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