These are the easiest and hardest places to pass your driving test in Scotland

Passing your driving test is, for many, a major hurdle and landmark, with more than half of all learner drivers failing on their first attempt.

Test centres in Scotland are some of the easiest places to pass your driving test (Photo: Shutterstock)

Interestingly, Scotland is home to some of the easiest places to pass a driving test in the United Kingdom.

Glasgow, however, is the hardest place in Scotland to pass a driving test, with all three of the city’s test centres at the bottom of the list.

New data from the DVSA (which is published every three months) has revealed the best and worst places in the country to take a driving test between April and December 2018.

Which test centres are the easiest?

Scotland is home to nine of the UK’s test centres with the highest pass rates. Inverary in Argyll and Bute is considered the easiest place to pass a driving test.

A whopping 84.9 per cent of drivers passed their test at the Inverary pass centre, almost three times as many as the most difficult test centre in the UK, in Birmingham.

However, many of the smaller test centres - such as Mallaig and the Isle of Mull - conducted fewer than 20 tests, with Ballater conducting the most of the top 10 with 144.

The top 10 test centres with the highest pass rate percentage in Scotland

1. Inverary, 84.9%

2. Mallaig, 83.3%

3. Gairloch, 83.3%

4. Pitlochry, 78.5%

5. Isle of Mull, 77.8%

6. Lochgilphead, 75.5%

7. Ullapool, 73.7%

8. Islay Island, 72.4%

9. Ballater, 70.1%

10. Crieff, 69.8%

Which test centres are the hardest?

Unsurprisingly, more urban areas prove harder for drivers to pass a test.

This could be due to the volume of traffic on the road which may cause issues for learners or the sheer number of roundabouts and other road furniture which require better skills and increase the risk of a dangerous or a major error.

All three of Glasgow’s test centres - Baillieston, Anniesland, and Shieldhall - are at the bottom of the pass rate list in Scotland, with other more urban areas such as Stirling and Livingston also below the national average pass rate.

The Anniesland test centre in Glasgow also saw the highest number of tests between April and December, with 7,696 tests conducted, with only 2,902 drivers passing.

However, exactly half of all drivers failed their test in Lairg, with 15 of the 30 drivers at the test centre passing.

The bottom 10 test centres with the lowest pass rate in Scotland

1. Glasgow (Shieldhall), 36.2%

2. Glasgow (Anniesland), 37.7%

3. Glasgow (Baillieston), 40.0%

4. East Kilbride, 41.2%

5. Stirling, 42.8%

6. Greenock, 43.4%

7. Edinburgh (Mussleburgh), 44.1%

8. Livingston, 44.3%

9. Callander, 44.9 %

10. Dumfries, 45.6%

What are the national statistics?

Nearly 1.3 million driving tests took place in the UK between April and December, with nearly 600,000 motorists passing.

This puts the national average at 45.7 per cent, meaning Scotland is, on average, an easier place than the rest of the country in which to pass your driving test.