Plymouth driving test centre
Ernesettle Lane, Plymouth, PL5 2EY
Drive the 5 routes around Plymouth before test day →
Key facts
- Plymouth's pass rate was 40.7% in 2025/26 from 11,167 tests, 9.3 points below the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 20 of 21 centres in South West (South West average 51.7%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 11 points below it.
- The rate has been stable since 2021/22, moving between 37.2% (2022/23) and 40.8% (2024/25).
- Male candidates passed at 38.3% and female candidates at 43.7%, a gap of 5.4 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 7 weeks since booking (shorter than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 13.4 weeks ahead.
Plymouth is one of the hardest test centres in Great Britain. It passed 40.7 per cent of its candidates in 2025/26 across 11,167 tests, 9.3 points below the national average, which puts it twentieth of the twenty-one centres in the South West. The reason is visible on the practice loops on this page. Eighty-two per cent of the distance is at 30 mph, but nine per cent is at 60 on The Parkway, and there are two sets of traffic lights in the whole drive. Nothing breaks the test into pieces for you. It is roundabouts and give-ways from Ernesettle Lane out and back, at whatever speed the road is doing.
Drive the Plymouth test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 42 km in all, with 25 roundabouts and 87 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Plymouth; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Plymouth from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 42 km · 87 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 Ernesettle Lane6.5 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 8 left turns and a stretch of Victoria Road.6.5 km · 21 turns · 5 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Lakeside Drive7.0 km loop with 3 roundabouts, 3 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Victoria Road.7.0 km · 15 turns · 3 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Ernesettle Lane7.1 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 6 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Victoria Road.7.1 km · 18 turns · 6 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Ernesettle Lane10.9 km loop with 6 roundabouts, 4 right turns, 3 left turns and a stretch of The Parkway.10.9 km · 13 turns · 6 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Victoria Road10.5 km loop with 5 roundabouts, 8 right turns, 7 left turns and a stretch of Budshead Road.10.5 km · 20 turns · 5 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Two sets of traffic lights. That is the whole count on these loops, with one signalled crossing and two zebras alongside them. Almost every junction on a Plymouth test is a roundabout or a give-way, and you meet them without the pause a red light gives you elsewhere.
Each of the five practice loops on this page carries between three and six roundabouts in six and a half to eleven kilometres. Five are named: Northolt Avenue, Victoria Road, Ernesettle Lane, Crownhill Road and The Parkway.
The Parkway is the one to think about. It is dual carriageway and it holds the fast part of the drive, nine per cent of the distance at 60 mph. Everything either side of it is 30, which covers eighty-two per cent of the loops, with a tenth at 20 in the residential streets.
Those streets are the other half of the test: Northolt Avenue, Uxbridge Drive, Hornchurch Road, Biggin Hill, Bickham Road, Hirmandale Road and Milford Lane, with Crownhill Road and Budshead Road linking them. Two level crossings sit in the area, and twenty-five schools.
With four give-way junctions and three pieces of traffic calming across forty-two kilometres of loop, this is not a test about slow, fiddly streets. It is about joining and leaving a 60 mph dual carriageway cleanly and reading roundabouts at road speed, and that is where a pass rate of 40.7 per cent comes from.
Pass rate at Plymouth, 2009/10 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 | 11,167 | 40.7% | 38.3% | 43.7% |
| 2024/25 | 9,867 | 40.8% | 40.0% | 41.6% |
| 2023/24 | 9,037 | 40.3% | 41.3% | 39.2% |
| 2022/23 | 9,345 | 37.2% | 39.6% | 34.9% |
| 2021/22 | 7,671 | 39.4% | 40.7% | 38.2% |
| 2020/21 | 2,327 | 42.4% | 45.0% | 39.8% |
| 2019/20 | 8,563 | 38.6% | 41.4% | 35.9% |
| 2018/19 | 7,948 | 37.4% | 39.8% | 35.4% |
South West average 51.7% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Plymouth
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 | 13.4 | 47 | 13.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 7 | 15.3 | 50 | 15.7% |
| Jun 2026 | 8.6 | 15.4 | 46 | 24% |
| May 2026 | 6.4 | 19.8 | 52 | 21% |
| Apr 2026 | 7 | 20.8 | 51 | 20.2% |
| Mar 2026 | 6.1 | 21.2 | 53 | 19.9% |
Tell me when the wait at Plymouth drops
One email when DVSA’s monthly figure falls, or goes under the number of weeks you choose. No newsletter.
Test day at Plymouth
The centre is on Ernesettle Lane, PL5 2EY, on the north-western edge of the city. Car tests run from here, along with motorcycle module 1 and 2 and ADI parts 2 and 3.
St Budeaux Victoria Road station is about a kilometre and a half away.
Nothing is published about parking or step-free access, so ring the centre in advance if you need either arranged.
Waits are easier than the national picture. Learners who tested in July 2026 had waited a median of seven weeks against 11.9 across Great Britain, and more than a third of the standard appointments in the booking window were still unbooked. Getting a date here is not the problem.
The pass rate is. At 40.7 per cent it sits 287th of the 302 centres ranked. One thing worth knowing is that the usual pattern is reversed here: women passed at 43.7 per cent and men at 38.3, a gap of 5.4 points the other way. November and February were the weakest months at 38.1 and 39.1 per cent. Launceston and Bodmin both pass a higher share of their candidates, but they are a long drive out of the city for a test. Tests are booked, moved and cancelled only through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Plymouth
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)motorcycle module 2 (on-road)ADI part 2ADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- Not published. Ring DVSA before the day rather than assuming.
Other tests at Plymouth
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 Plymouth
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 Plymouth.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Ernesettle LanePlymouth PL5 2EY
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- LauncestonPL15 9NJ · 24 km46.3%-3.7 vs GB7 wkswait
- BodminPL31 1RD · 37 km47.5%-2.5 vs GB3.6 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Plymouth
- Is Plymouth an easy test centre?
- Its 40.7% 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 Plymouth?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Plymouth was 7 weeks, and you had to look about 13.4 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 Plymouth driving test centre?
- Plymouth test centre is at Ernesettle Lane, Plymouth, PL5 2EY. 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 Plymouth do a year?
- 11,167 car tests were conducted at Plymouth in 2025/26, of which 4,546 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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