Bury driving test centre

The twenty is the test. With more than two thirds of the roads around the centre limited to 20 mph, the drop from a 30 has to happen before the sign rather than after it, and holding a steady 20 without drifting up on a downhill stretch is harder than it sounds. Plenty of candidates never once touch 30 and still collect faults for drifting over the limit in a 20.

Junctions come thick after that. Fifty-five sets of lights and twenty-three mini-roundabouts sit within a couple of miles, so the pattern of the drive is short runs between decisions. Walmersley Road, Rochdale Road and Bridge Street carry the busier part, with bus traffic, parked cars and pedestrian crossings close together. Amber gambles and stopping over the line are what this half of the route produces. The mini-roundabouts want the same discipline they want everywhere: give way to the right, signal for the exit, do not cut the circle.

Two level crossings sit inside the same radius, and twenty-nine schools do too, so the time of day matters more here than at most centres. Bell Lane and Wash Lane appear on the loops, and one of the longer ones runs out along Bury New Road.

Manoeuvres are usually asked for on the residential roads off the main routes, around Woodhill Road, Huntley Mount Road and Thrush Drive, where parking on both sides makes a pull-up on the right worth practising properly.