Folkestone driving test centre
Palting House, Trinity Road, Folkestone, CT20 2TS
Drive the 5 routes around Folkestone before test day →
Key facts
- Folkestone's pass rate was 42.4% in 2025/26 from 7,818 tests, 7.6 points below the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 29 of 30 centres in South East (South East average 52.9%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 10.5 points below it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 4.9 points, from 47.3% to 42.4%.
- Male candidates passed at 40.5% and female candidates at 45.4%, a gap of 4.9 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 7.9 weeks since booking (shorter than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 11.4 weeks ahead.
Folkestone is a 30 mph test almost the whole way round. Of the roads mapped within 2.5 km of the centre, 84 per cent carry a 30 limit and only a small share are 20, which is unusual for a South East town of this size. Easy limits have not produced an easy test. The pass rate is the second lowest of the thirty centres in the region and it has fallen by nearly five points since 2021. The work is in the density rather than the speed. Sandgate Road, Cheriton Road and Dover Road carry shops, buses and people crossing between parked cars, and the practice loops on this page run from 8.6 to 12.6 kilometres, so there is little quiet driving in which to recover. Folkestone Central station is four hundred metres from the door.
Drive the Folkestone test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 52 km in all, with 30 roundabouts and 155 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Folkestone; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Folkestone from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 52 km · 155 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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- Route 1 · via Cheriton Road12.6 km loop with 9 roundabouts, 16 right turns, 15 left turns and a stretch of Cornwallis Avenue.12.6 km · 40 turns · 9 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via White Horse Hill11.3 km loop with 7 roundabouts, 11 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Cherry Garden Avenue.11.3 km · 28 turns · 7 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Sandgate Road9.8 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 15 right turns, 15 left turns and a stretch of Sandgate Hill.9.8 km · 35 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Sandgate Road8.6 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 11 left turns and a stretch of Radnor Cliff Crescent.8.6 km · 30 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Sandgate Hill9.4 km loop with 4 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 11 left turns and a stretch of Radnor Park Road.9.4 km · 22 turns · 4 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Thirteen sets of traffic signals sit within 2.5 km of the centre, which is not many for a town of this size, so the test is decided at give-way junctions and on the approach to mini-roundabouts rather than at lights. Seven mini-roundabouts are mapped in that radius. They are the usual trap: signal for the exit you are taking, keep left of the painted circle, and do not treat an empty one as a formality.
Conventional roundabouts are few. Heron Forstal Avenue, Haven Drive, Castle Hill Avenue and Sandgate Road carry the named ones, and the busiest of the practice loops on this page takes in nine roundabout entries in 12.6 kilometres.
The town half of the test is Sandgate Road, Cheriton Road, Grace Hill and Shellons Street. Parked cars, delivery vans, bus stops and pedestrians stepping out, all inside a 30 limit that rarely gives you room to use it. Twenty-five schools are mapped in the area, so the time of day changes the difficulty of the same road considerably.
One loop runs along Sandgate Hill, and Lower Sandgate Road and Tram Road are on the street list as well. A single level crossing is mapped nearby. Manoeuvres are usually set on the quieter roads off Shorncliffe Road and Jointon Road, where kerbs are straight and parking is steady on one side. Right turns are the recurring theme: two of the five loops ask for fifteen of them.
Pass rate at Folkestone, 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 | 7,818 | 42.4% | 40.5% | 45.4% |
| 2024/25 | 4,370 | 45.4% | 44.8% | 46.1% |
| 2023/24 | 3,553 | 42.1% | 43.5% | 40.4% |
| 2022/23 | 3,297 | 43.3% | 43.9% | 42.7% |
| 2021/22 | 4,752 | 47.3% | 46.9% | 47.7% |
| 2020/21 | 1,070 | 49.1% | 52.9% | 45.3% |
| 2019/20 | 3,911 | 41.3% | 43.0% | 39.6% |
| 2018/19 | 3,763 | 44.2% | 47.3% | 41.6% |
South East average 52.9% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Folkestone
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 | 7.9 | 11.4 | 51 | 13.2% |
| Jul 2026 | 7.9 | 13 | 48 | 13.3% |
| Jun 2026 | 5.4 | 13.2 | 55 | 10.3% |
| May 2026 | 4.9 | 19.8 | 59 | 11.5% |
| Apr 2026 | 6 | 21.3 | 55 | 14.4% |
| Mar 2026 | 6.4 | 20.2 | 52 | 16.5% |
Tell me when the wait at Folkestone drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Folkestone
The centre is Palting House on Trinity Road, about four hundred metres from Folkestone Central station, which is close enough to make arriving by train realistic here. Nothing is published about candidate parking or the waiting room, so plan for what is typical of a small centre on a residential road: an instructor drops you at the door and finds a space nearby, and you wait indoors until the examiner calls your name.
One detail is published and it matters. GOV.UK states that you cannot access this test centre if you use a wheelchair. If that affects you, ring DVSA before you book rather than after, because the nearest alternatives are Ashford and Canterbury, both a little over twenty kilometres away.
The centre runs car tests, motorcycle module 2 on the road, and ADI parts 2 and 3. Booking, moving and cancelling all go through GOV.UK. Aim to arrive about ten minutes early. The examiner checks your licence, takes your signed declaration that the car is insured for the test, and does the eyesight check outside on Trinity Road before you get in. Waits here have been running below the national median, which is worth weighing if you are choosing between centres in east Kent.
What DVSA publishes about Folkestone
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carmotorcycle module 2 (on-road)ADI part 2ADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- DVSA states you cannot access this centre in a wheelchair. Ring DVSA before booking to arrange an alternative.
Other tests at Folkestone
This centre is not car only. DVSA publishes results for these categories separately, and they are taken by different candidates on different vehicles, so the rates are not comparable with the car figure above.
Learner reports from Folkestone
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 Folkestone.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Palting House, Trinity RoadFolkestone CT20 2TS
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Ashford (Kent)Ashford · TN23 1HU · 22 km46.2%-3.8 vs GB6.3 wkswait
- CanterburyCT1 3AS · 22 km45.8%-4.2 vs GB5.3 wkswait
- Herne BayCT6 6GZ · 31 km55.9%+5.9 vs GB7 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Folkestone
- Is Folkestone an easy test centre?
- Its 42.4% 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 Folkestone?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Folkestone was 7.9 weeks, and you had to look about 11.4 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 Folkestone driving test centre?
- Folkestone test centre is at Palting House, Trinity Road, Folkestone, CT20 2TS. 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 Folkestone do a year?
- 7,818 car tests were conducted at Folkestone in 2025/26, of which 3,313 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.
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