Dudley

Somewhere real to practise

5 circuits from the test centre on Newton House, The Pensnett Estate, each one 24 minutes or more, taking in the junctions a Dudley test actually uses. Turn by turn, with the roundabout exits numbered, and a manoeuvre to try on each one.

Swap your Dudley test Straight to the routes

Before you drive any of these

Practising in your own car is legal and it is the cheapest way to get better. The rules are short:

Whoever sits beside you must be over 21, qualified to drive that type of car, and have held their full licence for three years.
The car needs L plates front and rear, and insurance that covers you as a learner. Some insurers also want the supervisor to be over 25.
No motorways. A learner can only go on one with an approved instructor in a dual-control car, so none of these routes touch one.

The rules on GOV.UK

These are not the examiner's routes, and nobody else's are either.

DVSA stopped publishing test routes in 2010 and refuses freedom-of-information requests for them. Since December 2017 four tests in five are led by a sat nav the examiner sets up, so even the examiner's route is not a fixed thing you could learn.

What these are: loops on the real roads around the centre, put together so you meet the junctions, speeds and road types the test actually assesses. Drive the roads, not a sequence.

You drive. Somebody else reads.

Nobody can read a numbered list at 30 mph, and a sat nav will not tell you which exit to take early enough to get in the right lane. So these routes are written for the person in the passenger seat: the supervising driver who has to be there anyway.

Two ways to do that: print the route and put it on their lap, or send it to their phone. Either way they call the turns and you drive.

If the phone and the written steps disagree, the written steps are the route. Google plots its own line between the points we hand it, and it will sometimes take a turn this page would not print.

About the Google Maps links

Google takes nine points per link and plots its own line between them. It is not following our route, it is drawing its own through the same places, and it is bound by none of the rules these pages are built on. Three of those rules matter here: no turn in the road, no motorway, and nothing over 50 mph. A phone can do all three between two of our points.

So the route is handed over in parts rather than one link. Nine points across twelve miles is one every mile and a half, and a mile and a half is enough for a phone to take a different road entirely. Three or four links put a point every four hundred metres or so, and each one sits just past a turn rather than on a roundabout, because a point on a roundabout says you went through it and nothing about which way you left.

That is a much closer line than one link gives. It is still not ours, and on a long straight with no turns in it there is nothing for a waypoint to pin.

Two other things it will not tell you: its travel time assumes a confident driver in clear traffic, so expect ours to be closer; and it will happily route you down something a learner should not be on. Look at it before you set off.

The small map on each route is ours, drawn from the same data. It needs no permission, loads instantly and prints, which is why it is the one you see first.

Route 1 · Scotts Green Island → Russels Hall Island

Scotts Green and Russels Hall

The two islands nearest the centre, out by the Southern By-pass. The shortest of the five and the one to drive first.

4.7 milesabout 24 minup to 40 mph

Open in Maps

1
Start on Second Avenue 160 yards 30?
2
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30?
3
Turn left into High Street 1.4 miles 30
4
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 90 yards30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
5
Turn left into Bushey Fields Road 150 yards 30?
6
Turn right into Ashenhurst Road 0.5 miles 30
7
Turn right into Montrose Drive 120 yards 30?
8
Turn right into Scotts Green Close 0.3 miles 30
9
At Scotts Green Island, take the 4th exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
10
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto High Street 1.4 miles30
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40.
11
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30
12
Turn left into Second Avenue 160 yards 30?

Route 2 · Russels Hall Island → Scotts Green Island

Russels Hall and Scotts Green

The same two islands the other way round, which is a different drive by different roads. A sensible second, with five roundabouts to the first one's three.

5.5 milesabout 26 minup to 40 mph

Open in Maps

1
Start on Second Avenue 160 yards 30?
2
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30?
3
Turn left into High Street 1.4 miles 30
4
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
5
At Scotts Green Island, take the 3rd exit onto Dudley Southern By-pass 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
6
At Cinder Bank Island, take the 5th exit onto Dudley Southern By-pass 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
7
Turn right to stay on Dudley Southern By-pass 60 yards 40
8
At Scotts Green Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
9
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto High Street 1.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40, inferred from the map rather than a sign.
10
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30
11
Turn left into Second Avenue 160 yards 30?

Add a manoeuvre

One will be chosen for you.

Suggested from the map, not from a visit. Look at the road and the signs before you commit to anything, and do not block a driveway or a junction.

Route 3 · Russels Hall Island → Cinder Bank Island

Russels Hall and Cinder Bank

Across the middle of Dudley to Netherton and back, seven roundabouts end to end. The traffic does most of the asking.

6.8 milesabout 32 minup to 40 mph

Maps: part 1 of 2 Maps: part 2 of 2

Google takes nine points per link, so this route is handed over in 2 parts. Drive one, pull in somewhere safe, open the next.

1
Start on Second Avenue 160 yards 30?
2
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30?
3
Turn left into High Street 1.4 miles 30
4
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
5
At Scotts Green Island, take the 3rd exit onto Dudley Southern By-pass 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
6
At Cinder Bank Island, take the 2nd exit onto Duncan Edwards Way 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
7
At the roundabout, take the 4th exit onto Duncan Edwards Way 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
8
At Cinder Bank Island, take the 3rd exit onto Dudley Southern By-pass 0.6 miles40
No signal on the approach. Keep left unless the markings say otherwise, then signal left after the exit before yours.
9
Turn right to stay on Dudley Southern By-pass 60 yards 40
10
At Scotts Green Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
11
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto High Street 1.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40, inferred from the map rather than a sign.
12
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30
13
Turn left into Second Avenue 160 yards 30?

Add a manoeuvre

One will be chosen for you.

Suggested from the map, not from a visit. Look at the road and the signs before you commit to anything, and do not block a driveway or a junction.

Route 4 · Scotts Green Island → Five Ways

Scotts Green and Five Ways

Round to Five Ways in Brierley Hill and back, and the only one of the five that never leaves thirty. Drive this one twice if exits and lane discipline are where the faults come from.

7.3 milesabout 34 minup to 30 mph

Maps: part 1 of 3 Maps: part 2 of 3 Maps: part 3 of 3

Google takes nine points per link, so this route is handed over in 3 parts. Drive one, pull in somewhere safe, open the next.

1
Start on Second Avenue 160 yards 30?
2
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30?
3
Turn left into High Street 1.4 miles 30
4
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
5
At Scotts Green Island, take the 1st exit onto Scotts Green Close 0.3 miles30
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
6
Turn left into Montrose Drive 120 yards 30?
7
Turn right into Ashenhurst Road 360 yards 30
8
Turn right into Russell's Hall Road 330 yards 30?
9
Turn left into Wellington Road 0.2 miles 30?
10
Turn left into Stafford Street 160 yards 30?
11
Turn left into Wolverhampton Street 320 yards 30?
12
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Salop Street 0.3 miles30?
No signal on the approach. Keep left unless the markings say otherwise, then signal left after the exit before yours.
13
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Highland Road 160 yards30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
14
Carry on into Burton Road 1.1 miles 30?

Signed Burton Road East and Kent Street along the way, and it is the same road.
15
Turn left into Hill Street 0.2 miles 30?
16
Turn left into Holloway Street 0.3 miles 30?
17
Carry on into Ruiton Street 320 yards 30?
18
At Five Ways, take the 3rd exit onto Church Street 270 yards30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
19
Turn right into Temple Street 220 yards 30?
20
Carry on into Zoar Street 350 yards 30?

Signed Abbey Road along the way, and it is the same road.
21
Turn left into Bull Street 350 yards 30?
22
Turn right into Cinder Road 0.3 miles 30?
23
Carry on into Stallings Lane 350 yards 30?
24
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Stallings Lane 120 yards30?
No signal on the approach. Keep left unless the markings say otherwise, then signal left after the exit before yours.
25
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto B4175 110 yards30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
26
Turn left into First Avenue 0.4 miles 30
27
Turn right into Second Avenue 160 yards 30?

Route 5 · Russels Hall Island → Castle Gate Island

The long way round by Castle Gate

The full width of the town, out past the castle to Castle Gate. The longest here, and worth driving once in the fortnight before the date, because tiredness is what turns a good drive into a careless fault.

8.3 milesabout 38 minup to 40 mph

Maps: part 1 of 2 Maps: part 2 of 2

Google takes nine points per link, so this route is handed over in 2 parts. Drive one, pull in somewhere safe, open the next.

1
Start on Second Avenue 160 yards 30?
2
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30?
3
Turn left into High Street 1.4 miles 30
4
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
5
At Scotts Green Island, take the 3rd exit onto Dudley Southern By-pass 0.6 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
6
At Cinder Bank Island, take the 2nd exit onto Duncan Edwards Way 0.6 miles30
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40.
7
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Duncan Edwards Way 0.5 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
8
At Castle Gate Island, take the 4th exit onto Birmingham Road 0.2 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
9
Turn left into an unnamed road 110 yards 30?

The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40, inferred from the map rather than a sign.
10
Turn right to stay on an unnamed road 80 yards 30?
11
Turn right into Birmingham Road 0.3 miles 40

The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30.
12
At Castle Gate Island, take the 2nd exit onto Castle Hill 90 yards40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
13
Turn left into Trindle Road 0.3 miles 30?

The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40, inferred from the map rather than a sign.
14
Carry on into Stourbridge Road 1.2 miles 40?

The limit here is 40 mph, up from 30, inferred from the map rather than a sign. Signed King Street and B4587 and Queen's Cross along the way, and it is the same road.
15
At Scotts Green Island, take the 3rd exit onto Kingswinford Road 0.4 miles40
Approach in the left lane and signal left.
16
At Russels Hall Island, take the 2nd exit onto High Street 1.4 miles30?
Approach in the left lane and signal left. The limit here is 30 mph, down from 40, inferred from the map rather than a sign.
17
Turn right into First Avenue 220 yards 30
18
Turn left into Second Avenue 160 yards 30?

Add a manoeuvre

One will be chosen for you.

Suggested from the map, not from a visit. Look at the road and the signs before you commit to anything, and do not block a driveway or a junction.

Before you drive it

Watch somebody else drive Dudley first

Instructors film these roads constantly. Watch for the roads: which roundabout, which multi-lane approach, where the limit drops. Not for a sequence to memorise, because the sequence is the one thing that changes.

Find more Dudley route videos

Opens a YouTube search for this centre. A video only goes on this page once somebody here has watched the whole thing.

Where the roads come from

Every road, speed limit, roundabout and car park named on this page comes from OpenStreetMap, used under the Open Database Licence. A speed shown with a question mark is our inference from the road type rather than a signed limit in the data. Trust the signs, not us.

Distances and times are calculated, not driven. The turns between the junctions are worked out by OSRM, an open source router running on that same map data. The times assume town-centre averages, so treat them as a rough guide.

Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it, or fix it in OpenStreetMap and it corrects itself everywhere.