The Driving Test

When we both agree that you are ready, you can book your practical test. You do this through the Government website. Be careful to use the right site: there are often results on search engines that will take money off you and not provide a test.

Alternatively, we can book it together at the end of a lesson, which helps to avoid diary clashes.

To book your own test, click HERE

The driving test costs £62 Monday to Friday, and £75 on Saturday.

At the moment, as a result of three lockdowns, the waiting list for tests is much longer than usual. Although I'm not normally a fan of such apps, it may be possible to use a cancellation service such as driving test genie to move your test forward. YOU MUST FIRST HAVE A TEST BOOKED! The best days to look for a test seem to be Monday or Tuesday. Once you have booked it, and provided you don't mind paying a few pounds extra, click HERE to register with driving test genie and save £3.

When the big day comes I will meet you at your usual pick-up place an hour before the appointed time, to give you a chance to get settled in the car, and to do some low-key driving. We will most likely do an emergency stop, and we'll have a last run through the show-me, tell-me questions. Shortly before the test, you will drive to the test centre, off Aerospace Boulevard by the airport. You will reverse into a parking space in the test centre car park, and, at least until covid restrictions are eased, we will wait by the car for an examiner to come out and call your name.

The first thing you will be asked to do is sign your name to a short declaration, and the signature must match the one on your licence! You will then do an eyesight test, by reading a number plate at about 20 metres. The examiner will ask you a 'Tell Me' question and explain about the test, and then you will make your way out of the car park.

The test lasts about 35 minutes. You will be asked to stop and restart several times, one of which will be on a hill; you will have to do a manoeuvre involving reversing, typically some form of parking; you may be asked to do an emergency stop; and you will be asked a 'Show Me' question.

At the end of the test you will drive back into the test centre car park, and the examiner will tell you whether or not you succeeded, and explain the result. If you passed, they will take your licence off you and replace it with a pass certificate, which authorises you to drive until your new licence arrive, often within a week.

I will then drive you home!