Car
Ilford, located in north-east London has strong road and public transport links. If travelling by car, please be aware that the borough is accessible via connections from the M11 and M25, with plenty of nearby parking facilities in operation. We’ve listed a couple of potential options below. Should you wish to consider alternative parking sites, please visit the following Parkopedia page. This advertises all car parks in close proximity to the test centre.
Clements Road Car Park
This is a large, multi-story facility, and therefore parking spaces are always likely to be available. The site is a short, seven-minute journey from the testing venue. This car park is open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
Parking charges are as follows (‘hours’ relates to duration of time parked)
- 1 hour: £1.20
- 2 hours: £2.00
- 3 hours: £2.50
- 4 hours: £3.00
- 6 hours: £4.00
However, given the closeness of this parking site to the test centre, it’s likely that you’ll not need longer than 2 hours of parking. If you’re planning to extend your stay in Ilford beyond your testing slot, or indeed overnight, please note that there are 12-hour (£6.50) and 24-hour (£8.00) tickets available for purchase.
Parking payment can be made via card or cash, but unfortunately this site does not facilitate contactless transactions. Disabled spaces are available. Please be aware that electronic vehicle charging is accommodated at this car park.
For onward travel to the test venue, please follow the instructions below:
Head north up Clements Road, and turn left at the first junction onto Clements Lane. Continue until the end of the road, before turning right onto Winston Way. Immediately turn left onto Chapel Road, progressing for 50m before turning left onto Roden Street. Head along Roden Street, turning right onto Caxton Place, just as the current road bends left. Head north up Caxton Place; the venue is roughly 50m up on the left-hand side.
Mildmay Road Car Park
The site is open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, but only charges customers between certain times of the day. If parking between 7.30am-5.30pm, on any day of the week, the following charges apply (‘hours’ relate to duration of time parked):
- 1 hour: £1.85
- 2 hours: £3.10
- 3 hours: £4.50
- 4 hours: £7.00
Parking payments are capped at £7.00, which means any time spent parking beyond four hours will not be subject to further charges.
Please be aware that this site only accepts payments made via the ‘Ring Go’ service line, contactable by calling 020-3046-0010, or through SMS on 81025. When using this payment service, please quote Location ID, 7112).
Disabled parking is accommodated at this facility.
To reach the venue, please head south on Midmay Road, and turn right at the end of the road, connecting onto Alfred Road. Progress in a westerly direction for approximately 400m, before turning right onto Ilford Lane. Take the next left onto Britannia Road, advancing for 100m, before turning right on Riverdene Road. Continue for 150m, before turning left onto Roden Street, and then, after a further 50m, right onto Caxton Place. Again, the test site will be roughly 50m up on your left-hand side. The distance between car park and venue is around 1km, and the journey will take about eleven minutes to navigate. Unfortunately, there are no appropriate public transport services that would serve to cut journey time or distance travelled.
Bus
There are many bus routes that pass in close proximity to the test venue. We’ve picked out four of the main ones, which will hopefully be relevant to your own personal journey.
179: The number 179 heads south towards Ilford from Chingford Railway Station. If using this service, please exit at High Road bus stop. This location is approximately 100m north of Clements Road Car Park. After heading south for 20m and turning right onto Clements Lane, this route converges with the journey to the test centre from Clements Road Car Park. Therefore, please review the earlier instructions given and follow accordingly.
25: This route heads eastbound from Holburn in Central London and terminates in Ilford. Please exit the bus at Chapel Road ‘P’ stop (there are two bus stops on Chapel Road, this service will only allow exit at the ‘P’ stop). For onwards travel to the test centre, please once again refer back to the notes in the Clements Road Car Park section. This route merges with the journey from the car park after turning left on Winston Way. Therefore, please follow the guidance from this stage.
425: This service heads eastbound from Clapham to Ilford. Again, please exit at Chapel Road ‘P’ stop, and follow the notes above and the Clements Road Car Park section for onwards travel to the test site.
86: The number 86 operates between Stratford and Romford, travelling in an east/west direction. If using this service, please leave the bus at Ilford Hill. When walking to the test centre, head west on Ilford Hill, before turning left onto Chapel Road. Continue for 50m, and then turn right onto Roden Street. Advance for approximately 200m, and then turn right onto Caxton Place. The venue is around 50m away, located on your left-hand side. Journey time from bus stop to venue will be around five minutes.
As mentioned, there are multiple bus services in London’s network which will take you to bus stops close to the test centre. If any of these are specifically appropriate to you, please look to head for either of the bus stops mentioned above, or ideally Roden Street stop, Chap Road ‘P’ stop (which is slightly closer to the venue than Chapel Road ‘Y’), or Ilford Sainsbury’s ‘B’ stop. All of these destinations are within a five-minute walk of the venue.
For further relevant bus routes, please had to Caxton Place’s ‘Moovit’ dashboard webpage. Please click the link to access this site.
London Overground (Train)
There are two key ‘overground’ transit lines that head in or around the Ilford area. This is the CTC service to Barking, and the TFL Rail route into Ilford station. Given that the TFL Rail service takes you directly into Ilford, and therefore much closer to the test centre, we would encourage you to use this route if at all possible. However, if this isn’t possible, please find onwards travel instructions to the testing venue from Barking station below:
CTC: This journey will take approximately fifteen minutes by public transport. Please be aware that the distance between test site and Barking station is around 2.6km, and therefore travelling on foot would take over 30 minutes. If uncomfortable with this, it might be worth considering alternative methods of travel. Head north-east on Station Parade, which merges with Longbridge Road, for about 150m. The Barking Station bus stop will be on your left-hand side. Catch the 169 Clayhall service, and please leave the bus at Ilford Sainsbury’s ‘B’ stop. Head left on Winston’s Way, and merge with Chapel Road. Again, this journey overlaps with the route taken from Clement Road Car Park. After the Winston’s Way running, you’ll be within 50m of Roden Street. Therefore, please refer back to the earlier guidance, picking up the travel instructions from this point in the journey.
Barking station address:
Station Parade,
Longbridge Road,
Barking,
IG11 8TU
TFL Rail: As previously mentioned, this would be the preferred route to take. Trains originate in central London, but please note that there are both east and west transit lines attached to this service. Please check ahead to ensure that you’re using an eastbound route out of London; this can be done by visiting the TFL Rail website, located here. After arriving into Ilford Train Station, please exit the station building and turn right onto Cranbrook Road (A123). Head southbound; this road will merge with Chapel Road. Again, as this road approaches Winston Way, you’ll converge with the route from Clement Street Car Park. Therefore, please once again refer back to the instructions given in the car park notes. This journey will take approximately six minutes (650m in distance).
Ilford station address:
Ilford Hill,
Ilford,
IG1 2DG
London Underground (Tube)
There are various tube stations close to the test site. Although Redbridge, Newbury Park, and Stratford are all in close proximity to the venue, we would recommend heading for Gant’s Hill. This is because onwards transport links from this underground station are extremely good. For reference, Gants Hill is located roughly 2.7km from the test centre.
To access the test venue from here, please head west on Eastern Avenue, before turning immediately left onto Cranbrook Road. Progress for around 100m, and locate the bus stop on your left-hand side, just outside Famz Peri Peri takeaway shop. Please then take the 396 Ilford Service to Roden Street ‘C’ bus stop. On leaving this stop, turn right, and continue road the corner towards the Chapel Road junction. Turn right, and advance for roughly 20m, before turning right onto Roden Road. Progress for just over 200m, and then head right onto Caxton Place. The test centre is approximately 50m away, on the left-hand side.
Please note that Gant’s Hill is located on the London Underground’s Central Line.
Gant’s Hill station address:
Cranbrook Road,
Gants Hill,
Ilford,
IG2 6UD