Driving Tests restart

[groom]

Driving tests ( in England ) have restarted today, but with safety measures in place. One is you aren’t allowed to use the toilet at the test centre! Another is that as soon as you make a major mistake that’s the end of the test, so in theory the test could end in 5 minutes! I suppose though if you are allowed to continue to the end, you know you have passed.

Did you pass first time or did it take several attempts? Any horror stories about your test?

[josey]

My father taught my sister & I in 1962 - in his company car with additional insurance in place - simultaneously; I was 17 my sister 22. He used to take us around industrial estates then Hammersmith Broadway, mainly on Sunday mornings with the non-driving sister in the back. Arguments were rife, Sunday lunch was a nightmare for our mother! We each had a few professional lessons to help us pass the test. My test appointment came through first & I passed first time [was 18 by then] so pressure was on my sister. My father made me take drive the company car [a Rover 60] for a drive on my own as soon as I came back from the test, scary. It put a lot of pressure on my sister but she passed first time too about a month later. I certainly would never recommend a parent teaching you 

[eadaoin]

I never did a test!

Ireland didn't introduce a driving test until about 1964/65, by which time I'd been driving for a couple of years. I lived in England for about 18 months - it never dawned on me that I might need to change my licence or do a test!

[Ruskie]

I certainly would never recommend a parent teaching you 

Learner drivers in my part of the world are required to complete 100 hours of supervised driving before taking their test, with times entered into a log book. It was down to me to supervise one of my daughters (because I had more patience with her than her father). There is almost no way that a parent can get out of teaching their children here.

She suffered terribly with nerves and passed on her third attempt (her driving instructor expected her to pass first time).

Here if the driver makes a major mistake during the test they head straight back to the test centre.

When I was sitting for my test the car broke down and we had to walk back to the test centre. 

[groom]

My friend's son took his test 13 times, passing on the last one! His instructor couldn't understand why he was unable to pass as he said he was a good driver. I think it was just nerves and he went to pieces.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I tried maybe 3 times over 20 years - I was never that keen and there was only one car, which my husband took to work. Also for the first 10 years of our marriage the car was a VW van! I finally, at about the age of 40, took lessons without telling anyone and passed! (Though I still never wanted to drive.) It was one of the best things I did, as my husband died a couple of years later, and all I had to do was gain confidence, rather than going through the test.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Passed first time, as did OH, and taught in my case by family, in his case by driving instructor. Remember once having disagreement with my father, after he'd made me reverse round a corner umpteen times, I got out of car, set off across fields, in a paddy.
He waited around for a while, then drove round looking for me.... finally got home, I, having taken the short cut, was sitting with my feet up, drinking a cup of tea....
-Good job we got along well!
TY

[zoe_Wiccalo]

My test instructor was my childhood best friend so we just pulled over in a quiet side street and smoked a joint 

[Ruskie]

I could never understand "reversing around a corner" - it seems such a dangerous manoeuvre.