Don't be misled by the name the DVSA uses for it — "Chertsey (London)". The centre sits in Surrey, and the roads around it feel more like outer suburbs and country edges than inner London. The pass rate is 51%, a little above the UK average of 48%, and the drive has a character of its own: spread out, roundabout-heavy and faster than most London-area tests.
What the routes look like
SteerClear has ten practice routes that start and finish at the Chertsey centre. Unlike many centres, no single road appears on every one of them, which tells you something important about preparing here.
- The Knoll, Guildford Road and Hanworth Lane are the most common, each on six of ten routes.
- Staines Road and Chertsey Road are on four each.
- Green Lane, Church Road and Chobham Road are on three each.
- Roundabouts: about eight per route.
- Speed limits: about 53% of the distance at 30 mph, 35% at 40 and 11% at 50.
- Length: our Chertsey routes are long — a typical one is around 15 miles — because the road network here is spread out. Treat each as two practice sessions; your test will cover part of the same ground.
Learn the area, not a road
At a centre where one road appears on every route, you can build your preparation around it. At Chertsey you cannot. The routes fan out in different directions, so the useful unit of preparation is the area: the main roads out of the centre, the junctions where they meet, and the roundabouts that connect them.
Start with the three most common roads — The Knoll, Guildford Road and Hanworth Lane — because between them they cover most departures and returns. Then add the roads that link them, so you have driven every sensible way in and out of the centre at least once.
Roundabouts
At around eight per route, roundabouts are the most repeated situation you will face. The errors are consistent across candidates: approaching in the wrong lane, looking right too late, stopping when the way is clear, and forgetting to check mirrors and signal left before the exit. None of these is difficult on its own. What makes them costly is repetition — the eighth roundabout is where concentration slips.
Practise until the routine is automatic, so your attention is available for traffic rather than for remembering what to do next.
It also helps to know which roundabouts on your practice routes are the larger ones. On those, the lane you choose on the approach decides your exit, so read the road markings early rather than at the give-way line.
The faster roads
Almost half the distance on our routes is at 40 or 50 mph. That calls for two skills that town-based learners often lack: joining faster traffic confidently, and making progress once you are on the road. Pulling out too slowly into a 40 mph road forces others to brake; sitting at 30 once you are on it is marked as hesitation. Build the habit of reaching the limit promptly when it is safe, and of reading well ahead so you slow down smoothly for the roundabout or junction at the end.
A practice plan for the final fortnight
- Drive The Knoll, Guildford Road and Hanworth Lane in both directions until they feel ordinary.
- Map the links between them — every sensible way in and out of the centre.
- Do a roundabout-heavy session and take every exit.
- Give one session to the 40 and 50 mph roads, focusing on joining and on making progress.
- Take a mock driving test a few days before, around 35–40 minutes long, with directions only.
Long drives and concentration
Because our Chertsey routes are longer than at most centres, they are a good test of something that rarely gets practised on purpose: concentration over time. Faults on a practical test cluster late in the drive, when nerves have worn off and tiredness has crept in. Mirror checks get skipped, speed drifts, and signals come a moment too late.
Build stamina deliberately. Some of your practice drives should run the full length of the test without breaks or conversation, so that the twentieth minute feels as sharp as the second.
Manoeuvres on residential streets
Your manoeuvre — a parallel park, a bay park or pulling up on the right and reversing — is likely to happen on a quiet residential road near the centre. Practise all four on real streets, with real kerbs and parked cars, rather than in an empty car park. Effective all-round observation throughout the manoeuvre matters as much as the final position of the car.
On the day
Arrive about ten minutes early with your provisional licence and keep any warm-up brief. You won't know which direction the examiner will take you, but if you have driven the area rather than one route, you won't need to.
Practise the Chertsey roads
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes in 2010, but the roads around Chertsey are where they have always been. Our Chertsey test centre page shows the roads that come up most and the full speed-limit mix, and SteerClear scores your practice drives live on speed, braking, cornering, lane position and observation, so the roundabout habits that slip late in a long drive show up while you can still fix them. Nearby options include Guildford — see our Guildford route guide — and Isleworth. For the bigger picture, read how driving test routes work in the UK.