Practical test centres
Kent driving test centres
Every DVSA practical driving test centre in Kent — from the Medway towns to the coast — with the latest published pass rate and typical booking wait for each. Compare the eight centres side by side, then open any centre for its address, what the local test routes are like and how to get there on the day.
Centres in Kent
8
Average pass rate
53.8%
Highest pass rate
64.5%
Typical wait
7.1 weeks
| Centre | Area | Pass rate | Typical wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tunbridge Wells | Tunbridge Wells | 64.5% | 12 wks |
| Maidstone | Maidstone | 60.2% | 5.6 wks |
| Sevenoaks | Sevenoaks | 59% | 11.4 wks |
| Gillingham | Gillingham | 56.4% | 9.3 wks |
| Herne Bay | Herne Bay | 55.9% | 7.1 wks |
| Ashford (Kent) | Ashford | 46.2% | 4.7 wks |
| Canterbury | Canterbury | 45.8% | 5.3 wks |
| Folkestone | Folkestone | 42.4% | 5.4 wks |
Pass rates are the latest published DVSA figures for each centre; waits are the median booking lead time. Centres without a published figure show a dash.
Tunbridge Wells currently has the highest published pass rate in Kent at 64.5%, while Folkestone is the toughest at 42.4%. A higher pass rate usually reflects quieter roads and simpler junctions rather than easier examiners — pick a centre whose roads match where you learned.
Common questions
Choosing between Kent centres and making sense of the numbers.
Gillingham is the centre that serves the Medway towns — Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham all test there. The separate Medway LGV centre only runs lorry and bus tests, so it doesn't appear in this list of car test centres.
Although all three carry DA postcodes, they sit inside the London Borough of Bexley rather than the county of Kent, so you'll find them on our London driving test centres page. Postcode areas don't follow county boundaries — Hastings (Ore) has a TN postcode but is in East Sussex for the same reason.
Quite a lot. Coastal centres like Folkestone and Herne Bay use quieter seaside-town roads, Canterbury's routes take in a busy historic ring road, and Maidstone and Gillingham cover denser urban traffic with fast dual carriageways nearby. Pick a centre whose roads match where you've been practising.
All bookings go through the official DVSA booking service on GOV.UK — there's no separate booking system for individual centres. The table above shows the typical wait at each Kent centre; being flexible on centre and time of day is usually the quickest way to an earlier slot.
Ready for the theory side?
You need a theory pass before you can book a practical test. Drivings covers every revision question topic, hazard perception practice and unlimited mock tests.