Learner drivers in Grantown face biggest rise in waiting times in the UK for their test

Two Highland locations feature in the top 10 for the shortest driving test waits in the UK – but a third has emerged as having the biggest rise in waiting times in a single year.

Kyle of Lochalsh was ranked fourth with an average wait of eight weeks during 2025 while the Inverness centre in Longman Drive was placed ninth with an average wait of 8.9 weeks, according to a new survey.

Learner drivers taking their test in Elgin, which was ranked third, had to wait an average of 7.6 weeks.

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But Grantown-on-Spey showed the biggest year-on-year rise with the wait time more than doubling.

The survey was based on data obtained from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) under a Freedom of Information request by UK car dealer Evans Halshaw.

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Evans Halshaw said its analysis showed the average wait to take a test in the UK rose from 11.4 weeks in 2024 to 13.3 weeks in 2025.

It said widespread delays and growing regional disparities were also revealed when analysing the data, which involved 321 comparable standard car test centres.

Of these, 278 saw wait times for a practical driving test increase between 2024 and 2025.

In the Highlands, wait times in Grantown-on-Spey increased by more than eight weeks while Gairloch also doubled its wait times by more than six weeks.

Thurso, too, recorded a rise of almost seven weeks.

Arbroath took the unwanted title of the longest driving test waits in 2025 with learners having to see out 20.8 weeks on average from the moment they book a practical test to when the earliest available date arrives.

An Evans Halshaw spokesperson said more needed to be done to improve the situation.

“Around three months to take a test is a lengthy delay that can have damaging knock-on effects on someone’s employment, education, and day-to-day independence,” the spokesperson said.

“Our analysis has shown some instances that are closer to five months too.

“It is encouraging that a few centres offer significantly shorter wait times, but the improvements appear to remain the exception rather than the rule.

“More needs to be done to increase the availability of driving test examiners and their scheduling arrangements, to hopefully sort this growing nationwide backlog.”

The results included:

Top 10 shortest driving test waits in 2025:

1. Enfield’s Brancroft Way centre: 4.3 weeks

2. Watnall: 4.3 weeks

3. Elgin: 7.6 weeks

4. Kyle of Lochalsh: 8 weeks

5. Dumfries: 8.1 weeks

6. Basildon: 8.6 weeks

7. Liverpool’s St Helens centre: 8.6 weeks

8. Lowestoft’s Mobbs Way centre: 8.8 weeks

9. Inverness’ Longman Drive centre: 8.9 weeks

10. Peterhead: 9 weeks

The top 10 centres with the biggest increases in driving test waits year-on-year:

1. Grantown-on-Spey: +8.2 weeks (up 112.3 per cent year-on-year)

2. Airdrie: +7.2 weeks (up 98.6per cent)

3. Thurso: +7.1 weeks (up 69.6 per cent )

4. Norwich’s Jupiter Road centre: +6.8 weeks (up 82.9 per cent)

5. Gairloch: +6.6 weeks (up 115.8 per cent)

6. Livingston: +6.5 weeks (up 58 per cent)

7. Macclesfield: +6.2 weeks (up 56.9 per cent)

8. Edinburgh’s Currie centre: +6.1 weeks (up 60.4 per cent)

9. Scunthorpe: +5.8 weeks (up 73.4 per cent)

10. Worksop: +5.7 weeks (up 60 per cent)

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