Clacton-on- Sea driving test centre
103 - 105 Carnarvon Road, Clacton-on-Sea, CO15 6QA
Drive the 5 routes around Clacton-on- Sea before test day →
Key facts
- Clacton-on- Sea's pass rate was 48.2% in 2025/26 from 4,840 tests, 1.8 points below the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 18 of 24 centres in East of England (East of England average 51.4%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 3.2 points below it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 4.6 points, from 52.8% to 48.2%.
- Male candidates passed at 46.8% and female candidates at 50.1%, a gap of 3.3 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 14.2 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 21.4 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 9.6 weeks, so waits have grown by about 4.6 weeks.
Clacton is a mini-roundabout town. There are 29 of them tagged within two and a half kilometres of the centre and only seven signal-controlled junctions, which is an unusual ratio and the single most useful thing to know before you book. The centre is on Carnarvon Road, a couple of streets back from the seafront and next to the station, and the loops work through the residential grid off Valley Road, St Osyth Road and Old Road before touching Marine Parade East. The pass rate sits a little below the national average and has fallen since 2021. The wait has moved the wrong way as well, from under ten weeks last summer to over fourteen now.
Drive the Clacton-on- Sea test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 45 km in all, with 16 roundabouts and 117 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Clacton-on- Sea; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Clacton-on- Sea from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 45 km · 117 marked turns
- Examiner-style marking on signalling and observation
- Street View tour of each route
- Every roundabout and junction, in the order you'll meet them
- The four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios, included
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Everything else on PassRank, every centre, its pass rate, its waiting time and the forum, is free and needs no account.
- Route 1 · via St Osyth Road10.3 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 11 left turns and a stretch of Marine Parade East.10.3 km · 27 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via St Johns Road9.9 km loop with 2 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Valley Road.9.9 km · 24 turns · 2 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Valley Road8.4 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Skelmersdale Road.8.4 km · 20 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via St Osyth Road7.6 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Carnarvon Road.7.6 km · 24 turns · 4 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Burrs Road8.8 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Coppins Road.8.8 km · 22 turns · 3 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
The mini-roundabouts are the test. There are 29 within two and a half kilometres of the centre, against seven signal-controlled junctions and four conventional roundabouts, including St Johns and Bovills. Those counts cover the area around the centre rather than any one route, but a ratio that lopsided means the practice loops on this page cannot avoid them.
Mini-roundabouts fail people in predictable ways. The give way line comes up quicker than a full-size roundabout, so the observation has to be made on the approach and not at the line. The signal has to be for the exit you are actually taking, which on a small island with four arms close together is easy to get wrong. And the painted circle is to be driven round, not over, whenever the car can do it.
The rest of the profile is flat: 88 per cent of the roads in the area are 30 mph, there are no A-roads within the radius and no dual carriageway. Old Road, Wellesley Road and Holland Road carry the busier part of the driving, and the loops run between 7.6 and 10.3 km, so there is no long fast section to settle into. Two of the loops carry 14 right turns each, which is a lot of waiting for gaps in oncoming traffic.
Two level crossings sit in the same area. There are also 18 schools, and the residential streets off Page Road and Skelmersdale Road where manoeuvres are usually set are the ones that fill with parked cars at the start and end of the school day.
Pass rate at Clacton-on- Sea, 2007/08 to 2025/26
Share of car tests passed each April-to-March year. Dashed line: Great Britain average for 2025/26.
Month by month, 2025/26
By year and gender
| Year | Tests | Pass rate | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 4,840 | 48.2% | 46.8% | 50.1% |
| 2024/25 | 2,867 | 47.4% | 47.2% | 47.6% |
| 2023/24 | 2,611 | 51.1% | 51.6% | 50.6% |
| 2022/23 | 3,176 | 49.5% | 52.7% | 46.5% |
| 2021/22 | 3,300 | 52.8% | 53.7% | 51.9% |
| 2020/21 | 266 | 63.9% | 70.0% | 59.6% |
| 2019/20 | 3,258 | 53.1% | 57.3% | 49.2% |
| 2018/19 | 3,259 | 49.1% | 53.4% | 45.8% |
East of England average 51.4% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Clacton-on- Sea
Median weeks between booking and taking the test, for tests taken each month. Dashed line: GB median for August 2026.
| Month | Median wait | Weeks to free slots | Slots offered | Still free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 14.2 | 21.4 | 49 | 22.5% |
| Jul 2026 | 14.2 | 17.8 | 36 | 30.6% |
| Jun 2026 | 14.3 | 23.2 | 34 | 34.1% |
| May 2026 | 13.5 | 24 | 34 | 30.8% |
| Apr 2026 | 11.4 | 24 | 38 | 28.3% |
| Mar 2026 | 8 | 24 | 46 | 23.8% |
Tell me when the wait at Clacton-on- Sea drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Clacton-on- Sea
The centre is at 103 to 105 Carnarvon Road, in the town rather than on an industrial estate, and the railway station is barely a hundred metres away. That makes it one of the easier centres to reach without a car, though most candidates still arrive with an instructor.
GOV.UK lists the tests offered as car and ADI part 3. It publishes nothing about wheelchair access at this centre, so access is not published and the sensible thing is to ring DVSA before the day if you need to know what the building can accommodate.
Parking is not published either. Town-centre units like this one normally rely on on-street parking in the surrounding roads rather than a car park of their own, which is typical rather than confirmed. Allow time to find a space and walk the last part.
Booking, moving and cancelling a test is done through GOV.UK only.
Inside, the examiner checks your licence, asks you to sign the declaration that the car is insured, and takes you out for the eyesight check. Expect to move off into live traffic on Carnarvon Road within the first minute, which means the first mirror and shoulder check of the test is one of the ones that gets watched most closely.
What DVSA publishes about Clacton-on- Sea
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Learner reports from Clacton-on- Sea
No reports yet for this centre. If you tested here, the first one is yours to write.
What examiners mark most often
DVSA does not publish faults by centre, but it does publish them nationally. These collected the most marks across every car test in Great Britain in 2025/26, and they are the same ones you will be marked on at Clacton-on- Sea.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
103 - 105 Carnarvon RoadClacton-on-Sea CO15 6QA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- ColchesterCO2 8HF · 18 km50.6%+0.6 vs GB12.4 wkswait
- IpswichIP3 9SW · 27 km62.3%+12.3 vs GB8 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Clacton-on- Sea
- Is Clacton-on- Sea an easy test centre?
- Its 48.2% pass rate in 2025/26 is below the 50.0% national average. Busy urban roads and complex junctions usually explain lower rates; knowing the local routes closes most of that gap.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Clacton-on- Sea?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Clacton-on- Sea was 14.2 weeks, and you had to look about 21.4 weeks ahead to find a week with at least 10% of slots free. DVSA publishes this monthly; the figure above updates when they do.
- Where is Clacton-on- Sea driving test centre?
- Clacton-on- Sea test centre is at 103 - 105 Carnarvon Road, Clacton-on-Sea, CO15 6QA. Arrive at least 10 minutes early with your provisional licence; parking rules vary by centre, so check the learner reports below.
- How many driving tests does Clacton-on- Sea do a year?
- 4,840 car tests were conducted at Clacton-on- Sea in 2025/26, of which 2,334 were passed.
Source: DVSA tables DRT122A (pass rates by centre and month) and DRT122F (waiting times and availability), Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRank adds the comparisons and rankings.
Drive Clacton-on- Sea’s 5 test routes in 3D3 days free, then £9.99/month · or £14.99 once for 90 days
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