The Insider Guide to Huntly Test Centre: Routes That Catch Learners Out in 2026

Huntly sits almost exactly halfway between Aberdeen and Inverness, and that single geographical fact shapes its entire driving test. The A96 runs past the town, carrying fast, heavy, long-distance traffic, and every Huntly candidate has to deal with it. Around the A96 sits a compact Aberdeenshire market town with a formal square, a railway line, and quiet rural roads heading off in every direction.

The result is a pass rate of roughly 58%, comfortably above the UK average of about 48% but well short of the 70%+ figures you see at the most isolated Highland centres. This guide explains where the marks go and how to prepare for them.

About Huntly Driving Test Centre

Practical tests are conducted from Huntly Fire Station, Depot Road, Huntly, AB54 8JX. As with several small Scottish centres, it is a shared community facility rather than a dedicated DVSA building.

• Parking: on-street around Depot Road. Give yourself time.
• Facilities are minimal. Plan to wait in the car rather than a waiting room.
• Bring your provisional licence and confirm the car’s tax, insurance, MOT, L plates and extra interior mirror if you are not using an instructor’s vehicle.
• Waiting times at Huntly are often shorter than at Aberdeen, which draws candidates in from a wide area.

The Routes Around Huntly

The town centre and The Square

Huntly is laid out around The Square, with Gordon Street, Duke Street, Bogie Street and Castle Street radiating from it. The streets are narrow, parking is on-street, and pedestrian activity is constant on market days. Manoeuvres are typically asked for on the residential streets a little further out.

The A96

The A96 Aberdeen–Inverness trunk road is the defining feature of a Huntly test. Joining it, holding a national speed limit, and leaving it again at the town junctions is the core of what examiners are assessing. Traffic includes HGVs, coaches and long-distance drivers who are not slowing down for anybody.

The A97

The A97 heads north from Huntly towards Aberchirder and Banff. It is a quieter A-road with long rural stretches, farm entrances, and bends that reward reading the road well ahead.

Rural roads and the Deveron valley

Routes towards Drumblade, Gartly, Rhynie or the Deveron valley bring narrower carriageways, blind summits and single-track sections with passing places in places.

Tricky Spots and Common Challenges

1. Joining the A96

This is where most Huntly faults are recorded. You are emerging into 60mph traffic, often with an HGV in the mix, and you need to judge the gap accurately and go. Waiting for a gap that is bigger than you need is marked as undue hesitation; pulling out and forcing a lorry to brake is a serious fault.

2. Leaving the A96 into the town limit

Coming off a 60mph trunk road into a 30mph limit needs planning. Braking hard at the sign, or still doing 40 past it, are both common.

3. The railway level crossing

Huntly sits on the Aberdeen–Inverness line. Approaching a level crossing correctly — slowing, looking, never stopping on the crossing, never entering unless your exit is clear — is straightforward in theory and easy to get sloppy about in practice.

4. The Square

Huntly’s square has parking, pedestrians and traffic entering from several directions. Good observation and confident but unhurried positioning are what count.

5. Overtaking pressure on the A96

Long-distance drivers behind you will sometimes make impatient overtakes. Your job is not to react to them but to hold a steady, legal speed and safe position. Speeding up because somebody is close behind is a fault; so is drifting towards the verge to let them past.

6. Blind summits on the rural roads

The Deveron valley roads rise and fall sharply. Carrying speed over a crest where you cannot see the road ahead is exactly what examiners are looking for you not to do.

Pass Rates and Statistics

At roughly 58%, Huntly is above the UK average of about 48% and above nearby Banff (around 51%), but below the most remote Highland centres where traffic is minimal.

That middle position makes sense. Huntly gives you a genuine trunk-road element that isolated centres do not, while sparing you the sustained congestion of Aberdeen. The candidates who fail here overwhelmingly do so on A96-related faults: emergence, speed judgement and reaction to following traffic.

Top Tips for Passing at Huntly

1. Log serious A96 time. Several sessions, both directions, including at busy times when HGV traffic is heaviest.
2. Practise emergences specifically. Pick the junctions your route is likely to use and repeat them until the gap judgement is automatic.
3. Rehearse the level crossing. Approach, observation and never stopping on the crossing.
4. Work on the town centre. The Square and Gordon Street need deliberate observation, not autopilot.
5. Get comfortable near lorries. Understand their blind spots and stopping distances, and give them room.
6. Do not let following traffic dictate your speed. Steady and legal beats fast and flustered every time.
7. Practise the rural roads too. Blind summits and passing places appear on Huntly routes and are easy to under-prepare for.

How the Exam Routes App Can Help

The A96 junctions used on Huntly routes are the make-or-break part of the test, and they are far less intimidating the tenth time than the first. Exam Routes gives you real driving test routes with turn-by-turn navigation, so you can drive them repeatedly with a supervising driver and turn up on the day already familiar with every emergence.

Frequently Asked Questions