| Motoring Discussion > Driving test recollections | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: RichardW | Replies: 27 |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 14:23
Driving test recollections - RichardW
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Pat's thread about someone who took a M-bike test 18 years ago got me thinking - I realised I took my car test 18 years ago (where did those years go??) - and I have a remarkable clarity of memory about it (mind you I have a sponge like memory anyway, but I can't remember much else I was doing in 1992!). What recollections do others have? Date: 9th March 1992 Time: Morning Weather: Dry Car: SDL 20X - Dad's 1982 light blue Citroen Visa Super E Test centre: Newport, Isle of Wight Test: Went up from the test centre, then shortly down past the bus station and turned right outside Safeway (traffic lights not working!). Down to the infamous Coppins Bridge roundabout, then up Staplers hill, where we did emergency stop. Into the estate N of Staplers, where we did 3-point and reversing around a corner (pretty sure I didn't do parallel park), then back to the test centre. Minor faults: 2: crashed first going round a corner I should have approached in 1st; crunched reverse for the reversing round a corner (this car was always difficult to get reverse in, especially 'under pressure'! Result: Pass (1st time) Then off to the hospital where Dad collected Mum's car and went off to work, and I went back to school in Dad's car. I remember the experience of my first drive on my own being very odd indeed. Test was morning, as I went out with a few mates at lunch time for a drive. The Visa did sterling service - my elder sister learnt and passed in it in about 1990, and my youger sister likewise in 1995 - by which time it had done >100k and had scant synchro on 1st or 3rd, and the clutch was well past its best. All 3 of us passed 1st time though. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 14:35
Driving test recollections - Bellboy
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Stalled the thing on the emergancy stop then tried to start it in gear so resigned myself to a fail ,relaxed and completed the test He then told me i had passed woo hoo................ |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 14:47
Driving test recollections - diddy1234
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Late January 1990, Driving school Vauxhall Nova. I not only failed but I even had a 'D' for dangerous driving on my test form. If it were not for the examiner I would have mowed down a few school kids. To be fair, I was no way ready for the test yet the driving school thought I would be fine. Six months later, numerous other driving lessons from my dad and in my own car (Fiat 127), passed with flying colours. Just shows driving schools are not always the best way to learn. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 14:52
Driving test recollections - Dave_
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29th January 1990, 2.45pm, Letchworth test centre, G96 UUR - gold Nissan Micra 1.0LS belonging to one-man-band driving instructor. Read the number plate of another learner car in the test station carpark (despite knowing all the local learner cars' registrations off by heart as they ALL used to reverse into our cul-de-sac several times a day!) Drove all around the Jackmans estate, reversed around the corner from Radburn Way into Vincent, emergency stop further down Radburn Way, back to the centre for two Highway Code questions - on fog light use and zebra crossing ettiquette IIRC - and Robert was my mother's brother. Always wondered if learning and passing so swiftly would be detrimental to my future driving standards - although I've never driven into anything* or been nicked for anything more serious than slight speeding, so I guess not. *been driven into a few times, though Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 14:54
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 15:17
Driving test recollections - Redviper
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1998 around May time – Northallerton 4pm 1.0L P (I think) Reg Nissan Micra Theory was at a test centre in Middlesbrough I did it around when they 1st came out and it was on multiple choice paper – black in the squares… It was then sent off and a certificate came through the post a month later – no indication to how well I passed Test was a hour it was completed in 15 min (not intending to be big headed) 1st test Was doing really well until we hit the middle of the town, I stalled – followed the procedure but panic and nerves set in. so much that I hesitated before joining a roundabout, then flustered took the 1st turn off instead of the second as I was instructed to do so – Failed! 2nd test 1 month later – Northallerton 9 am - 1.0L P ( I think) Reg Nissan Micra – this time with the chief examiner. Was doing really well, until foolishly I looked at the tick sheet as I was driving, why I did this to this day I do not know. Examiner told me to stop and pull over and said “lets wait until we get back before we go through this shall we?” . At this point I thought I had failed, then I clipped at kerb turning left out of a tight (in my defence) junction – so I just carried on with the rest of the test. Examiner passed me , didn’t argue with him I just wanted to jump in the car in excitement! – of course I didn’t. My Driving instructor (now sadly deceased) I hold in the highest regard, I think I drove him to the end of his tether with my inability to sometimes follow guidance properly but what a amazing person with some of the most fantastic sayings when giving advice during a lesson that I still think about to this day. Last edited by: Redviper on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 15:19
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:10
Driving test recollections - bathtub tom
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1967, Luton. I sat waiting to turn right at traffic lights and a lorry waiting to turn right from opposite kept flashing me to pass in front of it. I couldn't see up his nearside, so didn't. Much horn hooting and fist waving. Did a five-point-turn and said I could do better. Examiner said it was fine. Reversed parked and after I pulled away I glanced in the mirror and saw a cyclist just off the back bumper trying hard not to ram me. I reckon he'd come out of a footpath and assume the examiner didn't see him. I was told to cross a major road during the rush hour. The examiner looked at his watch a couple times while I was waiting for a gap. I suggested turning left and then right down the road to come out in the same road we were heading for. Examiner declined. I passed! |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:20
Driving test recollections - BobbyG
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Turned 17 in the October , 1986. 1st Feb 87 driving test after one professional lesson as I had basically, for those 3 months, driven everyone who was needing to go from A to B and they had a driving licence to keep me legal. Went into the test centre and discovered my cousin was booked for the same time with another examiner. Came out the centre, and read the registration plate of the car that I had checked my vision on when I had arrived. Got into my car, Talbot Samba, and it would not start. The Samba very rarely started when cold. Or warm. Eventually using various forms of choke / non choke etc finally got the car into life. Coatbridge test centre had 3 routes they used and so went down a route that I knew like the back of my hand. Answered the Highway Code questions on return and then was asked what gears did and how did they work! This was not on the list of standard questions but was able to answer him anyway. Result - passed! Back into my car with my sister who had came down with me, ran her up to her house and then out and played in the car for the rest of the day!! |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:23
Driving test recollections - Dog
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Bowt 71/72 sowf londen somewhere Escort I pulled the handbrake up & stamped on the anchors HARD when carrying out the emergency stop, examiner almost went through the screen, geezer came running out of his owse shouting "I'm fed up with you faffing lot coming down ere, I'm gonna call the police", to which the examiner calmly replied I am the police. When asked to use hand signals only, I did it for about once only and promptly 4got (noyves) I passed :-D Last edited by: Dog on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 16:24
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 19:54
Driving test recollections - Dog
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>>sowf londen somewhere<< Its coming back to me now, long time ago though, is 40 years, The driving school was called "The Vernon Davey School of Motoring, and my regular guru was one Bill Ronner who was a lorry driver by day, he used to give me a half hours tuition and then park up round the park and watch the football while I read the highway code! |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:33
Driving test recollections - NeilS
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June 1972, High Wycombe in my mother's Mini 1275GT. All went ok except the emergency stop which the examner said I should make when he hit the dashboard with his clipboard. Soon enough he gave the tell tale sly look over the shoulder to check traffic behind and to obviously alert me to the imminent exercise. I think the clipboard was only one quarter of the way to the dashboard before I slammed on the anchors. The road had been resurfaced and we were on the last 15 to 20 yards so it skidded a bit, I did the on off on braking thing, corrected the slight sideways movement and it came to a halt only slightly off-line. "I shan't ask you to do that again" were his words. I thought I'd blown it but he passed me! Took four days to get the grin off my face and for my mother to get her car back. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 17:53
Driving test recollections - Dave_
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>> [Theory] test was a hour it was completed in 15 min (not intending to be big headed) Autumn 1998, after the theory test was introduced, I went to the Motor Show in Birmingham. The DSA had a stand with 10 or so computer terminals running the hazard perception and multiple choice theory tests. I was approached by a clipboard-wielding DSA rep and offered the chance to take a mock theory test. I whizzed through the questions, and at the end of it the DSA lady said to me "You're only the ninth person today..." I expected her to say "to get full marks" - but she continued by saying "to pass the test... and with full marks too." It really wasn't that hard, and I've since successfully coached a fair few people before they've taken it. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 09:08
Driving test recollections - Redviper
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When i did it on paper, there where some of the most simple and abvious questions Some come to mind are [Picture of a Maximum 30 mph limit sign] Whats the sign in the picture indicate? A. Minimum Limit 30 MPH b: Maximum Limit 30 MPH C. Stop D. No Right turn (or along those lines) A bad example maybe - but they really where as simple as that, with the odd one chucked in to make you think. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:37
Driving test recollections - borasport
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197? - of the test, no memory at all. Of having to stop on the way to the test while I puked up..... yeah, I remember that :-) |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 17:54
Driving test recollections - Falkirk Bairn
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Test 11am 22 September 1964 Lesson 9:30 - made all the mistakes I could possibly make 16 lessons and it came to be this bad!! Test at 11am - evrything went well, 11.45 am pass certificate - then I had to drive the car alone from the test centre to the Driving School carpark - scary driving a car on your own for the 1st time. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 18:02
Driving test recollections - Dave_
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>> then I had to drive the car alone from the test centre to the Driving School carpark - scary driving a car on your own for the 1st time My instructor waited at the Test Centre and drove me home - I never did ask whether this was because his car was only insured for Provisional Licence holders (of which I was no longer one!) or whether the excitement of passing might overwhelm new drivers and cause them to go to pieces. My first solo drive was in my dad's car after he got home from work on the day I passed - to post my pass certificate at the main Post Office in town! Took a bit of persuading to get the car keys off him too, I could have posted it in the pillar box around the corner, but, well, y'know. ;-) |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 16:48
Driving test recollections - Tooslow
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Summer, 1970. In the driving instructor's Avenger. Course was around the centre of Middlesbrough. I remember having the window down ready to give hand signals when requested. It was raining and I was getting wet. I remarked on this, as insouciantly as possible when you're 17 and you're desperate not to do anything wrong, and I was told to wind it up! I did go through a gap which was maybe a bit ambitious. Parked car on one side, car coming towards me on the other. I sailed through, no probs. This was remarked upon at the end. And then, at the very end, I got stuck turning right at lights. I think the car ahead of me was slow to get away and I was stranded well forward of the white line with traffic whizzing past my front bumper :-( I passed! :-) JH Last edited by: Tooslow on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 16:51
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 18:19
Driving test recollections - Alastairw
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October 1986 (Half term) It absolutely poured down with rain on the walk from the test centre office to where my instructors car was parked (with the keys still in!) so I, the examiner and the examiners examiner all got soaked. After cramming the examiners examiner into the back of the Nova, the car had steamed up terribly, and took me and the examiner a while to find the demist switch. My only other memory was just exceeding 35mph in a 30 zone, but luckily the examiner slapped the dash for the emergency stop before noticing the speed so I got away with it and passed. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 19:09
Driving test recollections - Netsur
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January 1982 - driving test itself was uneventful and I passed first time. However my lesson before was marred by the car (a Fiesta) feeling very wobbly at the rear and the instructor was not my usual one. We checked the tyres and one was low, so we pumped it up and off we drove. The car still felt funny and the instructor drove it who confirmed my thoughts. So we had to swap cars for a RWD Escort with a boot and had no time to practice reversing around the corner with it. All he said was, keep the kerb in line with the corner of the rear window. Anyway it all ended well. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 19:09
Driving test recollections - Skip
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29th July 1980 2.15pm (the brown appointment card is still around somewhere !), taken in my grandads HC Viva in Herne Bay. Long wait for a test in those days 6/8 months IIRC. I think the only thing i did wrong was to stall it on the 3 point turn but fortunately i didn't panic and got a pass. |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 22:09
Driving test recollections - Bromptonaut
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May 1978, mid/late afternoon at the Horsforth test centre near Leeds. Car was instructor Ted Rhodes's Datsun 1200. Like others I had a lesson before; made out to be a complete disaster. Only time I'd seen Ted rattled. With hindsight I suspect a technique to take cocky 17yo lads down several pegs. Examiner had did eye test and set off round one of the rehearsed circuits. I can remember the emergency stop, like somebody else above I got the line 'I won't ask you to do that again'. Little else specific I can recall but arrived back at the test centre regarding myself as probably a borderline case; lengthy set of HC questions tended to confirm that!! Passed!!!!! Ted drove me home - said he always did after a test. Either way, the candidate was not fit to be driving!!. Soloed later the same day going round the block in Mum's Mini and then took my sister up to school for some evening event. Ted is long dead (the ciggies?) but I can still hear two or three of his regular instructions including the one never to turn into a road until I can see down it and "slow down; tits on the wheel " when approaching those junctions where 'creep and peep' is required |
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New Wed 18 Aug 10 22:45
Driving test recollections - Badwolf
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Car - 23 April 1992. Not sure of the time. 1990 'G' reg Nissan Micra, of Rimmer's Driving School. I turned left out of the test centre (Eastbank Street, Southport) and promptly drove over the kerb. "Oh dearie me, dash and bother", I thought, "that's me failed.". But I must have done everything right for the rest of the test as I passed! Will (my instructor) was - and probably still is - a top bloke who didn't just teach me how to pass the driving test. Bus - 1 October 1997. Not sure of the time. 1978 'T' reg Leyland Leopard/Alexander Y-Type of Stagecoach Ribble. I was far more nervous about this than I was about my car test mainly, I think, as there was a job hanging on the outcome of this driving test. I can recall doing the emergency stop, the gear exercise, hill-start and the reversing manoeuvre but notmuch about the actual drive. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 00:10
Driving test recollections - AshT
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1987 in Bath, in a driving school Metro - my instructor was a great bloke called Ken Robinson who dished out exactly the right balance of praise and abuse to keep me encouraged and in check. I had a Scottish examiner with a very heavy Glasgow accent, and we had a few communication issues. I got the gist of most of what he said sufficiently to get through the hill start, 3 point turn, reversing, etc., but thought he was getting a bit wound up at being asked to repeat everything he said to me, so I started saying "right" and nodding at every instruction while I tried to translate mentally. This worked until we were on the return route; after a couple of strings of Glaswegian, nods and "right"s he suddenly said in very loud and slow voice "I told you TWICE to take the second left! Now take the next left if you can!" This time I just nodded.... He must have made allowances for translation - I managed to pick out the words "passed your driving test" when he spoke to me after the highway code questions. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 00:41
Driving test recollections - RattleandSmoke
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October 2008 Whalley Range in a 56 plate Clio MK3. Passed with four minors but messed it up as I was keeping out of the 24 hour bus lane and the examiner suddenly said go straight ahead, I was now in the right turn only lane (stupid road layout) so had to cut in front of moving traffic. Luckily I kepted my cool and checked all the mirrors etc, I passed but was told so many people would have paniced and failed. I also made a three point turn into a seven point turn. The rest of it was quite staight forward I was just amazed that I passed. I am always a very negative person so always 'knew' I would fail my test . Never imagined nearly two years later I would be driving a brand new car. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 07:17
Driving test recollections - L'escargot
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I took the test in 1958 in a driving school Morris Minor with bald tyres, skidding about on wet tram lines in Sheffield. The driver's side semaphore indicator had been ripped off and there was just a length of return spring sticking out. The examiner questioned me about the sequence of traffic lights, thus ............ Examiner: "What colour follows green?" Me: "I don't know, I've always gone by then." :-D Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 19 Aug 10 at 07:19
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 10:01
Driving test recollections - DP
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11th December 1992. Test centre: Marston Rd, Oxford. Mine started badly when the examiner came out and called my name. Imagine Blakey from "On the Buses" (right down to the Hitler 'tache), with perfect Queen's English, and a totally deadpan manner, and you'd be pretty close. The test itself was pretty uneventful, apart from very early on when the examiner said "I'd like you to turn left at the roundabout ahead" which I naturally understood as "I'd like you to turn right at the roundabout ahead" As I signalled and moved into the right hand lane, he said in a slightly raised voice "That's LEFT please". I luckily had time to complete a safe manoeuvre back into the left lane and follow the correct route. In my nervous mind, I was convinced I'd failed at that point, and relaxed quite noticeably. I think this helped, as when I got back to the test centre and got the Highway Code stuff out of the way, he told me I'd passed with a clean sheet. The whole test, start to finish was just 28 minutes long. It felt like about 10 minutes. My bike test was really good fun. I was nervous about the U-turn, as it was the only part of the training I didn't feel confident about going into the test. My instructor had said if I encountered traffic on the test, it was my choice whether to filter, but if we lingered too long, I could fail for "failure to make progress". And lo and behold, a couple of miles in, we hit a half mile queue caused by a broken down lorry. I sat there for a few seconds, thought "what the hell", and filtered very gingerly and carefully to the front. At the end, I got a couple of questions "what checks or changes might you make to your bike in advance of carrying a pillion" and another which I've forgotten. When the examiner handed me a clean sheet (I'm not a perfectionist in real life, honestly), shook my hand and said "That was a good ride, I enjoyed that!" I felt over the moon. I found the bike test much less formal and more "real world" than the car test. My instructor had drummed into me that the examiner would be looking for confident, safe riding and good progress above all else. He said to just ride as I had been during the last day of training, don't cock up the U-turn, keep half an eye on the speedo and I'd be fine. Which I did, didn't, did and was, respectively. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 11:58
Driving test recollections - paulb
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Car test: 17 years ago today :-) 2nd go - both attempts in an AA Driving School VW Polo. Still remember the number: K197 FRP. Bless it. Both tests taken from the Hove test centre, which at that time was in a parade of shops in the middle of a council estate in Hangleton. The locals must have been totally fed up with learner cars trundling about doing all sorts of erratic stuff, but never seemed to say anything much. Slight problem with the test centre's location was that it was up a hill, which meant downhill emergency stops. Suffice to say that cost me my pass first time - banged on the brakes and did a very impressive-sounding 4-wheel skid. Ah! the days before ABS... Manoeuvres were a pain without PAS, that much I do remember. Instructor Barry Crossman - diamond geezer - drove me home afterwards. Like other instructors mentioned here, he took the view that test candidates were in no fit state immediately afterwards, whatever the result. Bike test: 27 Nov 06. Again, 2nd attempt following a foot-down moment on the U-turn first time around. Bright morning following overnight rain (hence lots of road glare from low sun), on a borrowed Kawasaki ER5 c/o the good people at Norton Motorcycle Training in Worthing. Examiner took me on one of the longest routes the test centre had - all the way out to Hammerpot on the A27, where I had to slow from 70 to do a sharp left turn, downhill, on wet leaves. That must have got me my pass by itself. Main memory apart from that is the examiner getting off his Pan when we were back at the test centre and saying "b***** sun!" Made me realise that they are human after all... |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 13:21
Driving test recollections - Glaikit Wee Scunner Snr. {P}
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Oooh August 1969 when I was still 17. White BSM Triumph Herald. The brakes started making a horrible noise just before my (first) test , 'just a bit of grit in the drum' seemed to satisfy the examiner. Apart from turning right when asked to turn left , can't remember any real problems. Apart from being utterly terrified and sweating with fear.The excellent all round vision and the tail fins made reversing round a corner very easily and the old '3 point turn' could almost be executed as a U turn.The Highway Code thinking and stopping distances were not easy to remember and I think I got more than my fair share of questions due to my age. But I did pass. And a few years later passed the motorcycle test on a Honda 50 with semi-automatic gears. The emergency stop was interesting as the front wheel left the ground ( a consequence of the leading link fork action). Examiner was bemused to see the full car licence but still grilled me, pointlessly I thought, over the tedious details of the Highway Code. Next day I rode a mates Norton Dominator 600 cafe racer. Now that was an exciting step change. |
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New Thu 19 Aug 10 17:59
Driving test recollections - Soft Top
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Bright August day. 10-00am Crosby, Merseyside. Aged 17. Dirty orange Austin 1100. The examiner's name was "Stranex". On every practice run I'd done with my chain smoking instructor we turned right out of the test centre. Of course, on the test, we turned left. Drove down streets I didn't recognise and it probably helped my powers of observation. Took a few attempts to engage reverse gear on the 3 point turn but otherwise no drama. (Car and gearbox had done 120K by then.) All in all, a fairly pleasant experience. I don't think anything else of significance happened that day except I got my A level results and some chap called "Elvis" died... |
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