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Driving Tests | UK Driving Test Advice
Driving Newsletter - Tips and Advice on Passing your Driving Test

Choosing your Driving Test Centre

Practical Test Centres

Simply enter your ‘full postcode’ or town/city into our search box and click “Search”. We'll then show the nearest Practical Test centre to your postcode. A map giving you directions will help you find your Practical Driving Test centre. You can change the distance from postcode to widen your search.

Driving test centres: the place to be

Certainly, practical test centres are the place to be on the day of your driving test. There are over 370 practical test centres in the UK, so you’ve got plenty of choice when it comes to booking your test.

Of course, once you’ve booked your test you’ll need to know where your driving test centre actually is. Usually your driving instructor will show you where it is beforehand, on one of your lessons, but if not you can quite easily search for your nearest driving test centre address above.

Test centres are usually located in small towns or on the outskirts of larger towns and cities. This is partially for ease of access (city centre traffic would be responsible for far too many people being late for their tests, otherwise!) and also for test purposes. No learner driver on their test wants to drive out of the test centre straight into a 20-minute queue – and the examiner doesn’t want that either.

Driving test centres are generally quite uniform in their appearance and layout, and they all follow the same format. You need to arrive at the test centre 10 minutes before your driving test time. You walk in the main entrance and there’s a reception desk in front of you; give your name and test details (booking reference, time) to the receptionist. You’ll probably be asked for your driving license – both parts! – and your theory test certificate.

Remember , if you normally wear glasses or contact lenses, you must wear them for your test.

Chances are one of your reversing manoeuvres will be performed at the test centre – usually a reverse bay park – so make sure you’ve copped a good look at the parking bays, what other cars are around, and where any moving traffic might come from. You’ll also be asked to do your sight test in the test centre car park before you set off.

You can choose any driving test centre to do your practical test, but common sense usually dictates you pick the one nearest to your home. That way it’s easy to get to, and chances are you’ll have a fairly good knowledge of the surrounding roads, so you’re not taking your test on an unknown route.

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