DRIVING LESSONS IN CHATHAM

One Chatham price covers both gearboxes: £38.00 for each hour anywhere in ME4 and ME5. The first two-hour lesson is £76. Paying for 40 hours together costs £1,436, which is £35.90 an hour and £84 saved, and the 10, 20 and 30 hour bundles are listed in the table. Bookings add a £1.99 admin charge.

Chatham pupils normally sit their practical at Gillingham Driving Test Centre, Unit 2, Courtney Road (ME8 0RZ). The DVSA 2025/26 data shows 14,886 tests there with a 56.4% pass rate; manual reached 59.4%, automatic 51.9% and first attempts 57.8%. The figure for the whole of Great Britain was 51.2%.

Theory is about as close as it gets for Chatham: Chatham Theory Test Centre, 14-16 High Street, ME4 4EP, sits 0.2 miles into the town centre and you can walk there from Chatham railway station or the Waterfront bus station. The car theory test is £23.00 on GOV.UK, and our hazard perception and theory app is free.

DVSA figures suggest 45 hours of tuition plus 22 hours of private practice on average. In Chatham that usually means starting in Lordswood or Walderslade, moving on to The Brook and New Road (A2), adding the A229 at Blue Bell Hill and finishing with mocks from ME8 0RZ.

Neither costs more in Chatham: both are £38/hr, or £35.90/hr inside a 40 hour block. At the Gillingham centre in 2025/26, 59.4% of manual and 51.9% of automatic candidates passed. Auto takes the clutch out of City Way hill starts, though a manual pass is the one that covers both car types.

Pickup can be home, school or work in ME4 or ME5. Before moving off, the Chatham instructor looks at your provisional licence and has you read a number plate from 20 metres. Then the first 2 hours or so stay on quiet Lordswood or Walderslade roads, practising pulling away, steering and stopping.

Yes. Chatham lessons are given by independent DVSA-licensed instructors, either fully qualified ADIs with green badges or trainees with pink badges, and each one is enhanced DBS-checked. Cars have dual controls, and lessons work through the 27 skills on the DVSA marking sheet.

We pick up across ME4 and ME5, from Chatham Maritime and St Mary’s Island down to Walderslade, Lordswood, Blue Bell Hill, Luton, Wayfield, Horsted and Snodhurst. The table above sets out all 4 Chatham sectors with their practice roads; enter a postcode to see availability.

Yes. When a Chatham learner already has a practical booked at ME8 0RZ, we can fit 6 to 12 hours a week into an intensive and finish with mock drives from Courtney Road. Full course options and prices sit on our intensive course page.

GOV.UK sets the practical fee at Gillingham (ME8 0RZ): £62.00 for a weekday slot and £75.00 for evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Chatham learners take the test in their instructor's dual-control car, and booking through us carries a £1.99 admin fee.