Gillingham Driving Test Centre
At Gillingham, 57.2% of candidates pass, one of the 323 test centres we rank from the DVSA data. Below you will find the full pass-rate history, the demographic split, the official DVSA waiting time and a comparison with the nearest centres.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Gillingham sits in the top half of car pass rates nationally (Top 25%, rank #82 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Maidstone, about 7.8 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 65.7K passed, 62.2K failed, 127.8K total
How Gillingham compares
The 8.5-point advantage at Gillingham (ranked 82 of 323 in its category) is worth having but not decisive; a well-prepared candidate passes at either kind of centre.
Where Gillingham ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Gillingham has climbed 9.3 points across the series, 47.9% in 2017-18 to 57.2% now; the weakest year on record was 47.3% in 2018-19.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Gillingham
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 24 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Gillingham in May 2026 had waited 9.7 weeks from booking to test day.
Official DVSA data, May 2026. The median is the time between booking and taking the test; for live availability use the DVSA booking service.
Centre details
Address
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Gillingham
- car
- motorcycle module 1 (off-road)
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- ADI part 3
Accessibility & facilities
Parking and toilet details aren't included in DVSA's published feed. For the current on-site facilities, check the DVSA find a driving test centre tool with postcode ME8 0EZ, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Gillingham sits in Gillingham, Medway. It's a DVSA-run car test centre, and the routes from here work outward into the streets and arterial roads that learners from Gillingham tend to know already. If you're cross-checking this pass rate against other sources, the sample size matters. 127.8K tests over 2017-18-2024-25 is large enough that any rounding you see between sites is just rounding, not disagreement on the underlying data.
57.2% at Gillingham, against a UK car average of 48.7%. That puts the centre 8.5 points clear of the national figure and ranks it #82 of 323 car centres in the DVSA's network. First-attempt pass rate at Gillingham: 57.4%, against 49% nationally. That's a 8.4-point lead. Well-prepared candidates with no prior test attempts pass here at a noticeably higher rate than the UK average.
All figures shown are aggregated from the DVSA quarterly statistical release covering the most recent reporting periods available. Pass-rate calculations exclude tests cancelled by the candidate or examiner. Sample sizes and methodology are described in the source attribution at the foot of this page.
What learners should know about Gillingham
- Don't read a higher pass rate as a softer test. Gillingham's rate reflects route geography more than examiner discretion, DVSA marking is centrally trained. Prepare for the same fault categories you'd prepare for anywhere.
- 57.4% of first-timers pass at Gillingham, so the centre is on the forgiving side. If your instructor is signing you off as test-ready, your own preparation matters far more than the venue.
- 127.8K tests through this centre over the published window. At that throughput, competition for short-notice slots is constant, so make a habit of checking the official booking page often.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Gillingham area. Local instructors know which nearby junctions are demanding and will drill them.
- The only legitimate booking route is gov.uk. Anything calling itself a "test booking concierge" is reselling the same slots at a markup, the slots aren't theirs to control.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Gillingham
Turn up at Gillingham ten minutes before your appointment, and check ahead where you can park, DVSA sites vary on that. You can preview the location on the DVSA centre finder. Demand is high and waits are near 16 to 20 weeks, so an early booking plus a cancellation watch is the sensible approach. The examiner will ask to see your provisional photocard licence before anything else, and your car must carry L plates and a working interior mirror. If Maidstone is fully booked, Gillingham is the next closest centre, roughly 8 miles away.
Expect about 40 minutes once you set off, to the same national DVSA script. It opens with an eyesight check at 20 metres and one tell-me question, after which the examiner rides along for the drive and asks one show-me question on the move. Around 20 minutes of that is independent driving, guided either by a sat nav the examiner provides or by road signs to a named destination, with one of four set manoeuvres and a one-in-seven chance of an emergency stop. The drive works through whatever mix of urban and outlying roads sits within about a twenty-minute radius, and at a centre this busy that usually means heavier traffic to read. Across DVSA marking nationally, the fault recorded most often on car tests is junctions - observation, worth drilling on the local routes before your date.
Results come immediately on return to the centre. The examiner talks you through any faults marked, prints the DL25 feedback form, and (if you passed) takes your provisional licence so the full one can be issued by post. A pass needs no more than 15 driving faults and zero serious or dangerous faults, the standard 57.2% of candidates at Gillingham meet under current DVSA marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Gillingham?
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How does Gillingham compare to the UK average?
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Data: DVSA quarterly statistical release, released under the Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRates.uk aggregates DVSA centre-level totals across reporting periods.
Edited by Vikas. DVSA data period: 2024-25.