Penzance driving test centre
Driving Test Centre Penzance, 1 Alverton Terrace, TR18 4JH
Drive the 5 routes around Penzance before test day →
Key facts
- Penzance's pass rate was 46.5% in 2025/26 from 507 tests, 3.5 points below the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 17 of 21 centres in South West (South West average 51.7%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 5.2 points below it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 5 points, from 51.5% to 46.5%.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 21 weeks since booking (longer than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 8 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 13 weeks, so waits have grown by about 8 weeks.
- 39.2% 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.
The wait at Penzance was a median of 21 weeks, but the first week with slots genuinely free was only 8 weeks out — the widest gap of any centre in the South West. That is worth acting on: keep checking rather than taking the first date offered. The test itself is a slow one, 30 per cent of the distance on the practice loops on this page at 20 mph and 45 per cent at 30, with 18 per cent at 50 on the roads out along the bay. It passes 46.5 per cent, 241st of the 302 centres ranked and 5.2 points below the South West average, having fallen 5 points since 2021/22.
Drive the Penzance test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 49 km in all, with 20 roundabouts and 119 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Penzance; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Penzance from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 49 km · 119 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 Roscadghill Road12.7 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of New Road.12.7 km · 21 turns · 6 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Alverton Road7.4 km loop with 1 roundabout, 10 right turns, 16 left turns and a stretch of Marine Terrace.7.4 km · 27 turns · 1 roundabout
- Route 3 · via Alverton Road11.6 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 14 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Trevarrack Lane.11.6 km · 26 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Eastern Green11.8 km loop with 7 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of The Strand.11.8 km · 22 turns · 7 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Penalverne Drive5.2 km loop with 1 roundabout, 12 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Alexandra Road.5.2 km · 23 turns · 1 roundabout
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Penzance is a slow, tight test. Thirty per cent of the distance is at 20 mph and 45 per cent at 30, on streets built long before the cars on them: narrow, on a hill, with parked cars down one side and pedestrians who step out. Chapel Street, St Clare Street, Taroveor Road and the Penalverne roads are where that part happens, and where the manoeuvres go.
The turning is heavy for the distance. A 7.4 kilometre loop asks for ten right turns and sixteen left; a 5.2 kilometre loop asks for twelve and ten; an 11.6 kilometre loop for fourteen right turns. On a hill, in a 20 zone, with something coming the other way, a right turn is the fault that ends most tests here — moving off before you can see, or stopping in a place that blocks the road while you wait.
Eighteen per cent of the distance is at 50, out along the bay, and that is the other half of the drive: an open road where you are expected to make progress, then back into 20 within a minute.
Four roundabouts are named — Roscadghill Road, Western Promenade Road, Alexandra Road and Eastern Green — with two mini-roundabouts, five sets of traffic signals, five signalled crossings, three zebras and seven give-way junctions. Alverton Road, Alexandra Road, Penmere Road, Lansdowne Road and Stanford Terrace carry the rest, with the B3311, B3315 and B3317. There are 13 schools in the area and no level crossings.
Waiting time for a test at Penzance
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 | 21 | 8 | 31 | 39.2% |
| Jul 2026 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 46.2% |
| Jun 2026 | 14.4 | 13.4 | 29 | 34.8% |
| May 2026 | 13.4 | 19 | 25 | 22.9% |
| Apr 2026 | 16.9 | 9 | 10 | 28% |
| Mar 2026 | 13 | 24 | 28 | 28.4% |
Pass rate at Penzance, 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 | 507 | 46.5% | 47.5% | 45.8% |
| 2024/25 | 671 | 49.2% | 51.4% | 47.1% |
| 2023/24 | 661 | 52.2% | 50.3% | 53.8% |
| 2022/23 | 929 | 47.6% | 52.8% | 44.0% |
| 2021/22 | 662 | 51.5% | 54.0% | 49.4% |
| 2019/20 | 1,561 | 47.3% | 49.7% | 45.1% |
| 2018/19 | 1,518 | 49.6% | 52.9% | 46.7% |
| 2017/18 | 1,583 | 51.4% | 56.2% | 47.7% |
South West average 51.7% · GB 50%
Tell me when the wait at Penzance drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Penzance
The centre is at 1 Alverton Terrace, TR18 4JH, in the town rather than on an estate outside it. One thing to check before you book: GOV.UK states that this test centre has stepped access. If steps are a problem for you, ring DVSA and ask what they can arrange.
Car tests and ADI part 3 are conducted here. Penzance station is 0.9 kilometres away, an easy walk, which makes this one of the few centres you can reach by train.
Parking is not published for this site, and Alverton Terrace is a town street with the usual restrictions. Read the signs, and give yourself time — the worst way to start a test is after ten minutes of circling.
The wait was a median of 21 weeks for tests taken in July 2026, well above the national 11.9. But the first week with a tenth of its slots still free was only 8 weeks ahead, and that gap is the useful thing on this page: dates do come free here, considerably sooner than the median suggests.
April returned 56.1 per cent and March 44.2. Camborne is 22.8 kilometres away and was waiting only 5.6 weeks, but passes 40.6 per cent, which is lower again. Booking and cancelling is on GOV.UK only.
What DVSA publishes about Penzance
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carSCADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Other tests at Penzance
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 Penzance
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 Penzance.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Driving Test Centre Penzance, 1 Alverton TerracePenzance TR18 4JH
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- CamborneCornwall · TR15 3QS · 23 km40.6%-9.4 vs GB5.6 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Penzance
- Is Penzance an easy test centre?
- Its 46.5% 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 Penzance?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Penzance was 21 weeks, and you had to look about 8 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 Penzance driving test centre?
- Penzance test centre is at Driving Test Centre Penzance, 1 Alverton Terrace, TR18 4JH. 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 Penzance do a year?
- 507 car tests were conducted at Penzance in 2025/26, of which 236 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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