Crawley ranked the hardest place in the South East to pass a driving test

On average 1.6 million people take a driving test each year across Britain, but some test centres have far lower pass rates than others.

The coronavirus pandemic severely hampered the number of tests carried out. In the 12 months to March 2021, just under 440,000 tests were conducted, with half of drivers (217,000) passing, according to data sourced from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

The most recent figures available for this year, covering the six months from April to September 2021, shows a big increase in the volume of tests carried out.

Some 700,000 tests were completed, again with about half (350,000) of drivers passing.

In Crawley there were 5,030 test conducted between April 2020 and September 2021 and 2,160 passes. This means 42.9 per cent of tests resulted in a pass.

This ranks as the lowest rate in the region, ahead of Bletchley, in Milton Keynes, where 45.2 per cent achieved a passing mark.

Data shows Lee on Solent as the best place to take the assessment in the South East with a 66.3 per cent pass rate.

Crawley is the 36th hardest place to gain a full driver's licence in the UK out of 324 places.

The easiest place in the UK to pass a test is Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire. It has an 80.2 per cent pass rate, with 150 out of 187 drivers succeeding.

Erith in London had the lowest national pass rate of 28.5 per cent, 2,739 drivers out of 3,831, left the centre disappointed.

A Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency spokesperson said: “DVSA’s priority is to help everyone through a lifetime of safe driving.

“The driver testing and training regime tests candidates’ ability to drive safely and responsibly as well as making sure they know the theory behind safe driving.

“All candidates are assessed to the same standard and the result of their test is entirely dependent on their performance on the day.”