Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Reasons you didn’t pass your driving test

90 replies

TonTonMacoute · 10/09/2018 18:20

DS a bit down as he took his test today, and didn’t pass. Apparently the reason he failed was because he was on a dual carriageway, inside lane, quite busy and not that fast, when everyone in the outside lane suddenly braked and slowed right down. He was penalised for undertaking.

It did seem a bit unlucky, but his teacher said they are very picky these days.

I was wondering if anyone else, or their DCs, missed out for one error like this.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 10/09/2018 19:06

DH and I had to do a test in Pennsylvania (they vary by state) - there was a simple rules of the road test, then the driving was on a dinky little course, not on the roads. I don't think we got above 20mph, and iirc the only 'manoeuvre' was to be able to pull up within a foot of the kerb. (The instructor tried to be helpful and convert that to cm for me but got the conversion the wrong way round).

We were very cautious driving thereafter knowing that was all that was required!

ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers · 10/09/2018 19:08

We were very cautious driving thereafter knowing that was all that was required
^THIS x1000

Witchofwisteria · 10/09/2018 19:25

I was still coming out of a T junction and onto a busy road which led to a massive 8 junction roundabout.

Visability was also very poor as it's on a slope and looking round a corner. I edged out to see and as i was instructed. The examiner thought I was going to go and put on brakes. I def was not about to go but I couldn't see anything. I've done the same road 10 times since my test with no problems but obviously very cautious.

Nowadays they have to be strict, if you think about it they are giving young drivers who are barely adults a license to drive a 1 tonne weapon at high speeds.

Btw if your son passes def look at black box insurance options - don't immediately write them off. I have only just passed (at 24, went to uni then lived and worked in cities so no need to till I had my son and settled into a town). My insurance for no black box on a 1.4 C3 cheapest was £160pcm, with a black box it's £63pcm.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Driving & parking

hullaballoooo · 10/09/2018 19:30

DD passed hers last month on the third attempt.

She clipped a sticking out pointy kerb on a roundabout
Exactly the same as your DS

Tips from DD - re book it as soon as you can, two weeks is the minimum , try to get an appointment early in the day (she's convinced she only failed test 2, which was late in the day, as the examiner had already passed as many as he could!)

It was the same examiner for 2 & 3 so tell him not to worry if that happens!

Greystar · 10/09/2018 19:30

Slowing down to look to park I took my foot off the accelerator but didn't touch the brakes - told me if I'd just touched the break lightly I would have passed 🤦🏻‍♀️

KurriKurri · 10/09/2018 19:38

I failed five times
Driving too slow.
Driving too fast.
Not overtaking on a dual carriageway. (it was bit of a 50/50 situation)
Driving to close to stationery cars.
Cocking up the reverse round a corner.

Don't your DS get down - nerves play a big part in the first test. Sounds as if he was quite unlucky. On the test I passed I got away with not overtaking a horse and cart.
And on all my tests the examiner said I was good driver, just let nerves get the better of me.
A lot of it depends on the examiner (they all have their pet hates) and how you feel on the day.

Gorillaandme · 10/09/2018 19:53

I failed my test 6 times. The most unfair was when someone was indicating to come off roundabout so I went and then they changed their mind and I emergency braked on roundabout.

Original poster

TonTonMacoute · 10/09/2018 19:58

Thank you so much for all these stories, it has really made him feel a lot better about it all. It is quite reassuring to hear that others failed for similar reasons.

He’s off to university in a few weeks so he has that to look forward to for now, and we’ll try and get his new test booked for the Christmas holidays. He is quite a sensible driver so fingers crossed.

I’m still amazed that I managed to pass first time, it was a long time ago though...

OP posts:

JungWan · 10/09/2018 20:02

@errolthedragon, yes, just after i'd failed my test for the third time, my old school friend was home from America with her husband and he looked at me like I must be two planks short of a meagre picnic when he heard I'd failed it three times! My friend understood. She passed first time in Ireland so she understood that it wasn't just driving around a few bollards in an enclosed area.

Seniorschoolmum · 10/09/2018 20:03

Undue hesitation.
I took my first test in Tooting in the rush hour. My driving instructor has repeatedly told me that if I was waiting to turn out of a junction, another driver flashed me out and I pulled forward, I would fail because flashing headlights for this reason is not part of the Highway Code.

So I got to the junction and waited for a break in the traffic, to pull out....and waited....and waited.... Fail.

I took my 2nd test in Bodmin.

MarthaArthur · 10/09/2018 20:06

I believe its a scam that only a certain number of passes per day an go through.

My first one I failed for "Not looking behind me before pulling away." I actually did and greatly exagerated the movement so the examiner couldnt miss it. I still failed. My next one i was told not to hit the curb. I hit the curb. Why? Because i was on a tiny one way lane in the arse end of nowhere that was too small for the actual car. It was impossible not to hit it. Third time i crashed into a hedge. That one was all me. I then went on to pass after the next examiner was absolutely lovely.

gingeristhenewblack43 · 10/09/2018 20:08

First test: got in the car and the steering wheel wouldn't move. I had never been told about the steering lock and just to jiggle it. After that I was a bag of nerves and have blocked it from my memory

Second test: passed with no minors 🎉

Sometimes it's just luck on the day and being able to keep your nerves in check.

BettyBigBollocks · 10/09/2018 20:14

I mounted the kerb doing a left reverse thingy. 10 minutes into the test, knew I had failed, he told me I had failed but wouldn’t let me drive back to the centre & had to carry on with the test (now I’m older and wiser I would have just driven back - dunno what the fuck I thought would happen if I did!)

Doing 38mph in what the examiner insists was a 30mph zone, it wasn’t, it was (and still is) a 40 and I still drive that road often now and get the rage about it.

Passed with 1 minor.

PenguinRoar · 10/09/2018 20:15

It was snowing and the road was frozen... dear readers I took a wing mirror off a BMW!

Starlings27 · 10/09/2018 20:17

That sounds like a bullshit reason to me. Things must really have tightened up since I learned.

I failed my first test for speeding! 25mph in a 20 zone. It was a fair cop - I hadn’t seen the 20 sign. I passed three weeks later.

villainousbroodmare · 10/09/2018 20:26

I passed first time but I have a few stories of mates...

One girl failed because she didn't de-mist the windscreen (borrowed car and wasn't sure how to do it). Another very casual fella came up to a T junction where he was to turn right, looked right only and asked the examiner "Am I all right on your side?"

Another very agricultural fella, when he went to reverse around the corner, opened his door and leaned out as if he was reversing a tractor and trailer in the farmyard. He failed too!

smurfy2015 · 10/09/2018 20:43

There was a massive influx of people on one of the towns biggest shopping and busiest days, 3 people walked out in front of me, thankfully I was spot on with my emergency stop.

However my handbrake didn't like it, I was asked to reverse around a corner kerb which was reversing upwards against the hill, my handbrake it protested loudly.

As I went to release the handbrake when I was told I could move forward, the handbrake went, the cable had snapped.

I took us both back to the test centre driving with no handbrake - as approached the test centre a car which was approaching, speeding up - I was to learn later it was involved in a police chase -

Before I was able to pull in, the approaching driver came right beside my car and pulled off with my right side wing mirror although he had crossed the road at and was doing about 60 in a town.

I pulled in safely to the centre. Less than a minute later I saw police pull him out of the car, they were also tending to one of their own officers as other driver smashed the wing mirror over his head and face and tried to glass him

I was still failed for all this even though I managed not to kill anyone, or injure anyone or cause damage to anywhere or anything, But I had made lots of small faults during the chaos,

I got it easily on my second attempt, with 1 minor fault only Thankfully.

The minor for anyone who was wondering, I was driving out of the town (leaving urban heading rural before looping back route) as I drove along the straight road, I had my right flasher going the whole time, so I was literally flashing at everyone

MrsWicket · 10/09/2018 21:22

My sympathies Op - here’s my shockers:
Test 1: turning left at junction when asked to go right
Test 2: touching kerb when revering round corner
Test 3: repeat of number 2
Test 4: waving a pedestrian across the road when waiting at junction - not allowed
Test 5: I passed - 8 minors. Thought I’d blown it when I couldn’t remember how to open the bonnet luckily I had a lovely examiner who thought was ok. Weird thing is, though I’m glad I can drive, I don’t enjoy it.

MrsWicket · 10/09/2018 21:22

*reversing

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 10/09/2018 21:38

First test I rolled back an inch as the lights went green. Passed the second time. That was the car test, I got my bike and HGV class one first go.

Original poster

TonTonMacoute · 10/09/2018 22:43

I believe its a scam that only a certain number of passes per day an go through.

I think scam is a bit strong, but I’ve heard so many stories like this. There is an advantage to the exchequer if lots of people have to pay to retake

OP posts:

RaingodsWithZippos · 10/09/2018 22:48

First time - an ice cream van cut me up, I got road rage and went after him.

Second time - speeding - one stretch of the road goes from 70 to 60 back to 70, and I got confused.

Third time - had passed until I got back to the test centre, which is on an industrial estate. I was about to turn into the car park at the end of my test, and a lorry was coming towards me. I stopped, indicated, waited for the lorry to pass, then turned in and parked up. Failed for not using my hand brake when i stopped for the lorry, just my foot brake. The examiner was lovely and said that apart from that one mistake, I would have passed easily.

I gave up after that. DS had his test tomorrow and is nowhere near as nervous as I was.

MissTeye · 10/09/2018 22:52

I failed 5 times- each time for one major mistake. The one that sticks out in my mind the most was when I was turning left and there was a cyclist on my inside. The lights went green and I sat and waited for cyclist to continue in case he was going straight. But he sat and waited for me to turn. Basically I held up traffic by being too cautious.

BarbraDear · 11/09/2018 00:04

1: I was on the main road asked to turn right and there was a car waiting to come out of the junction. I couldn't remember who had right of way so sat there debating while the other car was waving me on and flashing his light. He even put his hands up to his face as I think he knew I was failing by sitting there. And also failed to stop on a double roundabout.

2: Went out too wide coming out of a junction.

3: Really ballsed up my reverse around a corner

4: 2 mins left of the test and went into the wrong land at a roundabout and almost caused an accident.

5th time lucky?

ineedaholidaynow · 11/09/2018 00:18

1st time - too hesitant
2nd time - too fast coming up to the roundabout right by the test centre (didn't want to be too hesitant) Literally failed in the last minute of the test
3rd time lucky

Flip

1 2 3 4