Kettering Driving Test Centre
The Kettering driving test centre is located in Kettering, England (NN15 6NL). Below are the official pass-rate statistics, multi-year trend, demographic breakdown, and how this centre compares against the UK average and its neighbours, all drawn from the DVSA quarterly statistical release.
Pass vs fail at a glance
8.9K passed, 3.7K failed, 12.6K total
How Kettering compares
Kettering performs well above the UK average. Learners passing here are more likely to pass than at most other UK centres, though this can also reflect quieter test routes and fewer challenging junctions.
Where Kettering ranks among 80 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Most common faults at this centre
The fault categories most frequently recorded against learners on test. Knowing them lets you target practice on the things examiners are most likely to penalise.
- 1Junctions - observation10
- 2Mirrors - change direction9
- 3Move off - safely8
- 4Junctions - turning right7
- 5Response to signs - traffic lights6
Per-centre fault breakdowns are derived from the DVSA national fault distribution applied to centre-level test outcomes.
Pass rate by demographic
Estimated wait time and demand
Wait times at Kettering have remained broadly stable through recent reporting periods. Booking is achievable but not immediate: learners booking at Kettering typically wait around 11 weeks from booking to test day.
Wait time is estimated from regional demand patterns reported in the National Audit Office investigation into car driving test waiting times (Dec 2024) and the DVSA Despatch blog updates, combined with this centre's test volume. Real availability fluctuates with examiner staffing and cancellations, always check the official DVSA booking service for live slots.
Centre details
Address
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Kettering
- 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 NN15 6NL, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
If you've got a test booked at NN15 6NL, that's Kettering in Kettering, North Northamptonshire. Examiners use a small set of fixed routes built around the roads immediately surrounding the centre. Over 2017-18-2024-25, 12.6K candidates sat tests here. The figures are statistically usable for centre-to-centre comparisons, which is most of what people land on this page wanting to do.
Rank: #41 of 80. Pass rate: 76.2%. UK average: 48.7%. That's a lower half centre by the DVSA's own published figures. For Kettering the DVSA suppresses first-attempt figures in DRT122C. Smaller centres get rolled up; this is one of them. The overall pass rate above is the only published figure.
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 Kettering
- Above-average pass rate at Kettering doesn't mean above-average ease. The fundamentals examiners mark are the same nationally: junctions, mirrors, observation, signal timing. A 65%+ pass rate means more candidates clear those, not that the bar is lower.
- If you can, take at least one lesson with an instructor who specifically works the Kettering routes. Local instructors know which junctions are the centre's hardest and will drill them.
- Don't pay third-party sites for booking access at Kettering. Use gov.uk/book-driving-test directly; cancellations show up on the same booking flow.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Kettering
Aim to be at Kettering ten minutes early. Because parking and waiting facilities are not the same at every DVSA centre, check the approach on the DVSA centre finder (postcode NN15 6NL) before the day. At moderate demand and about 11 weeks' wait, securing a convenient date here is usually less of a scramble. The examiner needs to see your provisional photocard licence to begin, and the car you bring must be roadworthy, fitted with L plates and a working interior mirror.
Plan for a drive of roughly 40 minutes, identical in structure to every other DVSA centre. First comes the 20-metre eyesight check and a pair of vehicle-safety questions, one show-me, one tell-me, then the examiner joins you for the road section. About 20 minutes is independent driving by sat nav or by following signs to a named target, you tackle one of four set manoeuvres, and around a third of candidates get an emergency stop. The drive covers the local mix of road types within roughly a twenty-minute radius of the centre. Across recent DVSA marking, the fault logged most often at this centre is junctions - observation, worth drilling on the local routes before your date.
There is no wait for the verdict, the examiner delivers it at the centre. They go over each fault recorded, hand you the DL25 feedback form, and on a pass retain your provisional licence so the full version arrives by post. To pass you need no more than 15 driving faults and not a single serious or dangerous one; 76.2% of candidates at Kettering currently clear that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Kettering?
Is Kettering an easy or hard test centre?
How does Kettering 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.