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Orkney

Driving Test Routes

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Orkney Practical Driving Test Centre

Orkney is an archipelago off the northern coast of Scotland, known for its rugged coastline, windswept landscapes, and serene rural roads. The main islands combine small towns, crofting settlements, and open stretches of road, providing learner drivers with a mix of calm conditions and occasional navigational complexity. The relative remoteness and low traffic volumes make it a gentle setting, yet the changing weather and terrain provide real test value. On a driving test in Orkney, your route might begin in one of the smaller towns or villages, navigating local residential streets with parked cars, junctions, and occasional constraints. You’ll move through local high streets or busy main roads in town, where pedestrian crossings, traffic control, and local traffic patterns must be managed. Then you’re likely to transition onto quieter rural lanes or coastal roads, where bends, variable road widths, and exposure to weather elements test your adaptability and judgement. One of the standard manoeuvres — such as bay parking (forward or reverse), parallel parking, or pulling up on the right, reversing, and rejoining traffic — is usually included on the route. These are typically sited in more sheltered or low-traffic locations to allow you to show control, smooth observation, and confidence. On more open sections, examiners will evaluate how well you merge into traffic, maintain suitable speeds, position your vehicle safely, and adapt to changing road surfaces or environmental conditions. Passing your driving test in Orkney means proving you can handle both tranquil village roads and more exposed rural stretches. With consistent practice, awareness of changing conditions, and confidence on test day, you’ll be ready to earn your licence and enjoy the freedom of driving through Orkney’s beautiful and varied landscapes.

Address

The Kirkwall Auction Mart, Hatston Industrial Estate, Kirkwall Orkney KW15 1FL

Toilets

Male and female toilets are available

Tests Offered At Orkney

Car, Motorcycle module 1, Motorcycle module 2, Lorries, large vehicles and buses

Disabled Access

Arrangements will be made at this test centre if you have a disability

Parking

Parking is available at this test centre

Telephone

0300 200 1122

Check out the gov.uk – ‘book your driving test’ service for availability.

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Downloading Driving Test Routes

You can download test routes for your mobile device or Sat Nav. Our test routes are available in .GPX file format and are compatible with popular navigation apps such as TomTom Go App, available for both iPhone and Android, as well as TomTom, Garmin, Navigon, and CoPilot Live SatNav systems, Download Driving Test Routes. The most cost-effective option is to use the TomTom Go App on your mobile phone with a phone holder. Our guide on how to use the TomTom Go App makes it easy to navigate the test routes and ace your driving test. Check out our guide on how to use TomTom Go App

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What to expect on your practical driving test at Orkney Test Centre?

This is the day and finally you are ready to take your practical driving test! Of course you will be  feeling a little nervous? you don’t need to be, the examiner is just going to be observing you driving safely, and the test is very straight forward and shouldn’t be anything new to you.

On the day of the test you just need to be at a Orkney Test Centre 10 mins before your test, making sure you have your Provisional Driving License with you. The test will be as follows. 

  • An eyesight test,  you’ll need to read a number plate from a distance of 20 metres.
  • One “tell me” questions covering vehicle safety and maintenance. (click here)

20 minutes of general driving, where you’ll be following instructions from the driving test examiner, and will also need to perform one of the following manoeuvres

 

One “show me” questions covering vehicle controls, this will be asked while you are driving along. (click here)

  • 20 minutes of independent driving,  you will either follow sat nav directions or sign posts to reach a set destination
  • You may also be asked to perform an emergency stop.
 

Once you get back to Orkney driving test centre, you’ll find out if all of your hard work has paid off. The examiner will tell you the result and give you some feedback which will contain any faults you might have accumulated. If you pass, the examiner will also give you a test pass certificate and the opportunity to send off for your new licence then and there. The full test report will be sent to you via the email that you provided when you booked your driving test.

More details can be found  Here

Download Your Tests Routes And Start Practising Today

Orkney Driving Test Routes

£9.99

More about Orkney Test Centre

If you’re to be a qualified driver in the a test area, be prepared to face a variety of difficult traffic conditions and road types. Whilst the driving examiner isn’t looking to fail you, their job is to make sure that you are actually ready to remove the L plates. As such, they’ll take you through a thorough test to see if you can handle safely all of the challenges Orkney has to offer. With a variety of dual carriageways, residential roads, and congested areas, you’ll also need to be at ease with responding to different speed limits, it is worth practising this well as there are a lot of narrow streets. The test centre is based on an industrial estate area but with many test routes that take you out onto the dual carriageways and these are definitely worth practising. Also, it is worth practising some of the larger roundabouts around the test centre.

Want to be more familiar with Orkney? here are some useful links below.

Driving Test Routes

Having local knowledge of the test area will give you a great advantage when it comes to taking your driving test. The DVSA does not make test routes public however, The test routes available on our site are the knowledge gained from local driving instructors who are able to either sit in on lessons or can track their cars whilst they are out on test. They are all current routes that can be used by the DVSA examiners. Downloading the test routes yourself if you have someone else that you can practise driving with will be a huge advantage and potentially save you a considerable amount of money and possibly speed up the time it will take to pass your test.

We are so confident in the quality of our test routes we always offer a free sample of one of the routes for you to take look at and practice before buying the full pack of routes – click HERE for a FREE Orkney Driving Test Route

What If I Fail?

It can be very upsetting to not pass your driving test, but as you can see from the figures above that quite a few people do not pass their driving test immediately, it may take them several attempts. Don’t be disheartened by this and take the time to do further practise and seek professional advice from an instructor if you feel it is nessasary.

 Once you feel ready to take your test you can re-book through the gov.uk – ‘book your driving test’ service additionally, you can use various websites/apps to find earlier cancellation appointments the one we recommend is below.

If you need a new driving instructor try searching for one at Drive Academy – one of the UK’s leading directories of driving instructors

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