The Fastest Places to Learn to Drive in the UK

Hi there,

I thought you might be interested in this piece on the top 20 areas that are the quickest for getting a driving license.

With driving tests restarting across the UK, and waiting lists for lessons and tests looking to be months long, where are the quickest places to go from road novice to driving pro? Professional driving instructor group Local Driving School have analysed government data on pass rates, cancellations, and learner/instructor ratios, to reveal the fastest and slowest places to learn to drive in the UK.

I've attached a full press release below - you can also view the full piece here<https://www.localdrivingschool.co.uk/the-twenty-fastest-and-slowest-places-to-get-your-driving-licence>.

If this story is of interest I'd be happy to provide any further information, data or copy to support a piece.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Sam

The 20 Fastest and Slowest Places to Get Your Driving Licence in the UK

With driving tests restarting across the UK, and learners just getting back on their feet after several months of lockdown, waiting lists for lessons and tests are looking to be months long. Professional driving instructor group Local Driving School have analysed government data on pass rates, cancellations, and learner/instructor ratios across the UK, to reveal the fastest and slowest places to go from road novice to driving pro.

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Here are some key points that your readers may find of interest:

  *   Taunton is the quickest place in the UK to go from driver novice to pro on the road, with 133 learners per instructor, and a 55.4% pass rate.
  *   Tottenham is the slowest place in the UK to learn to drive, with 539 learners per instructor creating long lesson waiting lists.
  *   For London learners, look outside of the huge waiting lists in Greater London and consider learning to drive in Gillingham or Chelmsford.
  *   Similarly Hyde, Manchester is the 16th quickest place to learn, while Sale, also in Manchester, is the 13th slowest area in the UK.

October 2020: Professional driving instructor group Local Driving School<https://www.localdrivingschool.co.uk/> have analysed government data on test centre pass rates, cancellations, and numbers of registered learners and instructors in areas across the UK to reveal the quickest and slowest places for learner drivers to become fully qualified. View the full piece here<https://www.localdrivingschool.co.uk/the-twenty-fastest-and-slowest-places-to-get-your-driving-licence>.

[cid:image002.jpg@01D6AE96.52FB80F0]Taunton Comes Out On Top

Overall, Taunton is the best place for a learner driver looking to quickly pass their test. In particular, a learner to instructor ratio of 133 results in shorter waiting times for lessons than most areas of the country. Pass rates and numbers of cancellations are 55.4% and 32.4 - both significantly above average for the UK, resulting in learners gaining full licences much quicker.

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London Learners Lose Out

With 9 of the top 20 slowest areas to learn to drive, Greater London leaves learners far behind the rest of the UK. This is largely due to the massive amounts of learners to a small number of driving instructors, and generally lower pass rates.

Tottenham is the overall slowest place to learn, with 539 learners per instructor resulting in huge waiting times for lessons, and lower pass rates and cancellations than the UK average. Overall, Hendon and Mill Hill have the highest ratio of learners to instructors, with an average of 644.6 to 1 in each area.

If you're struggling to get lessons in Greater London, then look further afield and consider lessons in Chelmsford or Gillingham, where there are more instructors for learners, and better pass rates with more cancellations favour you passing your test much quicker when you take your test.
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Scotland Almost As Slow

Scotland has the majority of slow areas to learn to drive in outside of London, with 7 places making our slowest 20. Anniesland, Glasgow, is the worst offender with an average pass rate of 38.4% - 10% lower than the 48.85% average. Dumfries comes in as the next worse place to learn, as only 1 cancellation per month - far lower than the UK average of 19.4 cancellations per month - puts off learners looking to skip the queue.

However, not all is slow for Scotland, as the top five places with the highest pass rates are villages located there. Pitlochry has the best pass rates in the UK, with an average pass rate of 82.8%, followed by Ballater with 76.2%. Lower numbers of cancellations and higher than average learner to instructor ratios do mean these villages don't make the top 20.

Cancellation Craze

On our top 20 table, Poole, sees the highest monthly cancellation rates, with 67.3 monthly cancellations, followed by Barnsley, and Gillingham, at 54.5 and 54 respectively.

From our rankings, Hull, Bradford, and Cardiff see the largest amounts of test centre cancellations. Top spot Hull sees 118.2 cancellations a month - six times the national average of 19.4. Bradford and Cardiff also receive 88.2 and 87.7 cancellations per month. Cardiff just misses the top 20, coming in at 24th, with Bradford placed at 30th.

Cancellations give those on waiting lists a much quicker way to get a test slot, so consider taking your test in these areas as the queue could move a lot quicker than at first glance.

Check Your Area

A great example of being selective with where you learn is Manchester. Hyde, Manchester is the 16th quickest place to learn, while Sale  is the 13th slowest area in the UK. This is because Sale has a ratio of 312.6 learners/instructor, with only 5.8 cancellations per month, while Hyde has 174.2 learners per instructor, and 30.7 cancellation per month. Hyde also benefits from a pass rate of 53.90%.

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Claire Davies, Marketing Manager at Local Driving School: "With the provisional world on standstill for the past few months, we're all excited to be back on the roads teaching and helping our students move towards a full driving licence.

However, with lessons only recently restarting and test centres just opening, demand is at an all time high, and so learners are queuing to learn to drive.

With the information provided, we hope students can look further afield from their nearest test centre to reduce their waiting times.

Checking your neighbouring areas using the given statistics will indicate predicted waiting times, and in places such as Manchester and London, a nearby area/centre may save you weeks of wait time overall."

About Local Driving School

Local Driving School is a professional driving school franchise that operates in over 20 towns across the UK, including Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield, Hull, Chesterfield, Scunthorpe and Gillingham. They provide a variety of lesson plans, including regular lesson booking<https://www.localdrivingschool.co.uk/book-online>, as well as intensive driving courses<https://www.localdrivingschool.co.uk/semi-intensive-driving-course> to fast-track provisional drivers towards taking their tests.

Since 2001, they have built an excellent reputation as a reputable and trustworthy driving school throughout many different areas across the United Kingdom. Driving instructors are experienced and qualified to deliver the very best driving lessons to people of all ages.

--- Methodology ---

Data has been collected in August 2020.

Sources:

Provisional drivers per postcode data is from the Department for Transport DVLA GB Driving Licence Data<https://data.gov.uk/dataset/d0be1ed2-9907-4ec4-b552-c048f6aec16a/gb-driving-licence-data>. Registered instructor data is from the government driving tests and instructors dataset<https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/driving-tests-and-instructors-statistics>. Figures for provisional drivers were divided by numbers of instructors for a postcode. This postcode information was then matched to place names in the cancellation and pass rate data.
Cancellation data is from the DVSA Car driving test data by test centre resource<https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/car-driving-test-data-by-test-centre>.
Pass rate data is from the DVLA Driving Test Statistics statistical dataset DRTO2<https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-test-statistics-drt#car-driving-test-pass-rates-drt02>.

Any areas with incomplete datasets have been removed from the results.

UK averages (mean) are:

  *   203.3 learners per driving instructor
  *   19.4 average monthly cancellations
  *   48.85% pass rate

See our full dataset - Local Driving School Fast-Track Master Spreadsheet Data<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WsRHsFAOV3qtV-6Zibdr-0X15EJP5jxEY5ZKuiu1fLc/edit?usp=sharing>.