Hastings driving test centre
DVSA name: Hastings (Ore) · Hastings Centre, The Ridge, TN34 2SA
Drive the 5 routes around Hastings before test day →
Key facts
- Hastings's pass rate was 52.4% in 2025/26 from 3,892 tests, 2.4 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 17 of 30 centres in South East (South East average 52.9%), a mid-table pass rates in the region.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has risen by 3.3 points, from 49.1% to 52.4%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 17.1 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 14 weeks ahead.
- 39.4% of the standard slots in the booking window were still unbooked in August 2026, which usually means a cancellation or new date is realistic here.
Hastings is one of the few centres where the car test does not start where the address says it will. The GOV.UK record still gives Brookway Business Park on Ivyhouse Lane, and lorry, bus and motorcycle module 1 tests are still taken there, but every car and ADI test booked since March 2024 runs from the Hastings Centre on The Ridge. Read your booking confirmation and go to the address it names. The Ridge also sets the character of the driving: a long, busy road along the top of the town, with a hospital, schools and a run of side turnings off it, and everything else dropping away downhill towards the sea.
Drive the Hastings test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 55 km in all, with 8 roundabouts and 103 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Hastings; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Hastings from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 55 km · 103 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 Stonestile Lane11.4 km loop with 1 roundabout, 12 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Westfield Lane.11.4 km · 19 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 2 · via The Ridge11.9 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 7 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of The Ridge West.11.9 km · 21 turns · 6 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via The Ridge9.9 km loop with 1 roundabout, 10 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Harrow Lane.9.9 km · 21 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 4 · via Stonestile Lane12.2 km loop with 15 right turns, 3 left turns and a stretch of Westfield Lane.12.2 km · 18 turns
- Route 5 · via Stonestile Lane9.5 km loop with 10 right turns, 14 left turns and a stretch of The Ridge.9.5 km · 24 turns
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Three quarters of the roads inside the area the loops cover are 30 mph, and only a small share are 20, so this is a centre where you are held at 30 for most of the drive and judged on how steadily you hold it. The practice loops on this page total about 54 kilometres over five routes, and they lean on The Ridge, Ivyhouse Lane, Chowns Hill and Rock Lane.
Hastings is built on hills and the routes do not avoid them. Chowns Hill and Rock Lane drop away from The Ridge steeply enough that a hill start, a downhill stop and a long hold at a junction can all turn up in one test. Handbrake discipline matters more here than at a flat centre.
Right turns are the other pressure. The loops carry between six and eleven right turns each, most of them out of a side road into moving traffic on The Ridge or Elphinstone Road, where a gap that looks long enough closes faster than a learner expects. Twenty sets of lights sit within the area, and Conquest Roundabout and Park Gates Roundabout carry hospital and retail traffic between them; both reward choosing a lane early.
There is one level crossing in the area and fifteen schools, so mid-afternoon is the slot to avoid if you get a choice. The quieter ground for manoeuvres is in the streets off Priory Road and around De Chardin Drive and Centurion Rise.
Waiting time for a test at Hastings
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 | 17.1 | 14 | 37 | 39.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 17.1 | 20.8 | 29 | 41.4% |
| Jun 2026 | 10.4 | 24 | 41 | 30.2% |
| May 2026 | 13.6 | 14.3 | 34 | 37% |
| Apr 2026 | 13.9 | 24 | 27 | 36.3% |
| Mar 2026 | 13.2 | 24 | 37 | 32.1% |
Pass rate at Hastings, 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 | 3,892 | 52.4% | 51.8% | 53.1% |
| 2024/25 | 3,065 | 49.2% | 47.5% | 51.1% |
| 2023/24 | 3,761 | 47.8% | 48.1% | 47.5% |
| 2022/23 | 2,821 | 45.4% | 47.1% | 43.5% |
| 2021/22 | 2,719 | 49.1% | 49.8% | 48.3% |
| 2020/21 | 887 | 47.2% | 46.6% | 47.8% |
| 2019/20 | 3,794 | 43.1% | 46.7% | 40.0% |
| 2018/19 | 3,890 | 42.5% | 44.9% | 40.5% |
South East average 52.9% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Hastings drops
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Test day at Hastings
For a car test the place to go is the Hastings Centre on The Ridge, postcode TN34 2SA. DVSA says parking there is signposted, that you should meet your examiner in reception, and that there are toilet facilities on site. That is more than most centres publish, and worth knowing if you have a long drive in.
The old site at Brookway Business Park on Ivyhouse Lane still runs lorry, bus and motorcycle module 1 tests, so do not let an out-of-date postcode take you into the industrial estate on the morning of a car test.
Ore station is the nearest railway stop, a little under two kilometres away, though most candidates arrive with an instructor. GOV.UK publishes no wheelchair access line for this centre, so if that matters to you, ring DVSA rather than assume either way.
The examiner will check your licence, take you through the insurance declaration, and then walk out to the car with you. The eyesight check is done outside, on a number plate at the usual distance. Tests are booked, moved and cancelled only on GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Hastings
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 1 (off-road)lorry and bus
- Wheelchair access
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
- On the day
- All car and ADI booked from 4th March 2024 will be conducted from Hastings Centre, The Ridge, TN34 2SA. Parking will be sign posted. Please meet examiner in reception. There are toilet facilities available. LGV and Bike tests will still be conducted from the main site.
Other tests at Hastings
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 Hastings
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 Hastings.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Hastings Centre, The RidgeHastings TN34 2SA
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- EastbourneBN22 7PT · 22 km55.4%+5.4 vs GB13.7 wkswait
- Tunbridge WellsTN1 2ES · 35 km64.5%+14.5 vs GB10 wkswait
- Ashford (Kent)Ashford · TN23 1HU · 36 km46.2%-3.8 vs GB6.3 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Hastings
- Is Hastings an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 52.4% of car tests were passed there in 2025/26, against 50.0% nationally. Pass rates reflect the local roads and who takes tests there as much as the examiners, so treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Hastings?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Hastings was 17.1 weeks, and you had to look about 14 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 Hastings driving test centre?
- Hastings test centre is at Hastings Centre, The Ridge, TN34 2SA. 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 Hastings do a year?
- 3,892 car tests were conducted at Hastings in 2025/26, of which 2,039 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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