To think it's impossible to get your driver's licence in London?

[WillNeverGetALicence]

Just failed my test for the second time today

I was behind another learner driver also in an instructor's car. They dithered for a moment, then indicated left as if they were going to park but also started to roll back [no reverse lights] so I was not sure if they were parking, about to continue on or were about to attempt a three point turn.

So I stopped for a couple of moments and the traffic stopped behind me. However when I saw that the car was finally pulling in to the kerb I said to the tester that I would now go around them as they were obviously parking.

Nothing was said by the tester at the time but she failed me on this. She said that I should have kept going and gone around the parking car. By stopping I had caused the cars behind to stop and this was basically not acceptable.

So this is a serious fault

I am just so annoyed as the rest of the test went well and I only got 3 minors in total. I did the bloody bay park perfectly as well. Even my instructor was gobsmacked that I failed on this point. My instructor said that i would also have failed if i had kept going and the car in front had decided not to park [and imo it really wasn't clear what they were planning to do initially].

Am I being unreasonable in feeling that driving tests in London are unreasonably difficult or should I just suck it up and get over myself.

The irony is I actually have a driving licence from my country of origin and have driven for a number of years there so am not a complete newbie. I did lessons to get myself ready for the test here and my instructor has said that I should pass so why the hell do I keep failing

Any stories of either test rage or woe will be gratefully appreciated as I am feeling a bit crap at the moment and really wondering if it is worth my time and money continuing.

So I was in exactly the same situation; I also had an licence from another country and had driven for years with no accidents. I kept failing in London. I finally passed by sitting a test in Mill Hill (N London) where it feels a little less full on. I actually think it is more difficult to pass a test when you have been driving for years than when you are a learner. Far more bad habits to unlearn...

Good luck for next time.

I don't think it's London, I think it's some examiners. I made a mistake in my first test that I got failed for. Made the same mistake in the second and it was marked as a minor error. In your case, I'd bet another examiner would fail you for not waiting to see what they were up to if you had driven past.

I failed by avoiding driving in a bus lane 3 minutes before it became operative! It was marked down as "D" for dangerous, because apparantly there could have been a car coming along the bus lane and I might not have seen it when turning left. And for not giving an equilateral distance on each side when passing parked cars on a narrow street, which also had a dustbin lorry! I also complained about the examiner constantly chatting and telling me his bloody life story during the test, got a letter back claiming he was just trying to put me at ease, but resat the test quickly in another location and passed with absolutely no errors whatsoever! Makes me very dubious about application of standards...

I agree it's some examiners.

My SIL failed for being 'overcautious' too.

Except that if the other driver had done what it looked like he was about to do, then she wouldn't have been 'over cautious' and if she hadn't slowed down, it would have looked like poor hazard awareness!

Although she's also pregnant, and I suspected that the old man examiner just had some funny ideas about pregnant women driving! My brother agrees.

Bogey - The irony is that my driving style has become more cautious for exactly that reason, that I had "bad habits" to undo, for example I would mirror, signal, manouovre more quickly rather than demonstrate each action separately iyswim.

Now I feel I am being penalised for being cautious!

The problem is the instructor can't read your mind and can't really tell if you know what you are doing or not but has to read the cues as best they can and within the parameters of their own experience.

Yanbu, it's bloody hard and does depend on the examiner. I drove for 15 years in another country but initially failed on faults including one like geegees - not using a bus lane 10 minutes before it started.

Second time I was well prepared by a brilliant instructor and passed easily despite using the wrong way turn signal once in some sort of freak mistake.

I was told to take it first thing on Monday and I do think there is some bias by day though they say no quotas, etc.

Best of luck.

Erm - do you mean London in particular, or the UK?

London. This is the only place in the Uk I have attempted to do the driving test so don't know how it compares to other places here.

I have an Australian driving licence and that was reasonably difficult too but I passed first time. And did the test in one of the capital cities so not London busy perhaps but definitely not small country town either.

You're best bet is to go more into the suburbs to take your test. My friend had terrible problems ( although tbh I think she's a shit driver) but she went out to Havering and did her test in Upminster, the roads are so much quieter, she passed first time.

Are you taking lessons with an instructor? I finally passed my test in March on the 7th attempt (first 5 goes were 9 years ago). I took my instructor in the car with me on my 6th and 7th tests and after my fail he was able to go over the test with me and improve on the things I had struggled with. Sometimes you might remember things a bit differently to how they actually happened so I think it is definitely worth getting an extra pair of eyes! It also reassured me as having him with me was more what I was used to.
Also talking about what you are doing might seem a bit bonkers but could persuade the examiner to give you the benefit of the doubt if you explain your thought process while you are doing it.

I lived in Central London and took my test in Southend. It was easier to drive where there weren't so many aggressive drivers and so much unpredictable traffic.

i thought you could exchange an australian licence for a Uk one without sitting a test?

I think it is all quite random. I took my test 18 years ago in the London suburbs and it took me three goes. The first time I wasn't ready and was so nervous I was shaking. My instructor said he didn't expect me to pass but put me in to help me get over my nerves for when I would be ready. My second test was the first day tests resumed after snow, so the roads were still quite slippery with snow in the gutters, etc. I was failed for hesitency! I thought (and still think after 18 years of driving) that I was driving appropriately cautiously for the conditions. I was not a particularly hesitent driver. I was taught by a retired fire engine driver, ffs, who was very into "making progress" along the road.

The bus lane thing is daft. No one drives in them if the roads are fairly quiet as there isn't a need for a second lane. The few that do are usually undertaking ladyparts driving like idiots. (And perhaps a few people who have taken their tests recently!)

Katienana I think that's a really good idea and will suggest to my instructor that they come on my next test. A second pair of eyes would definitely help and it may be that I am remembering things differently [although not massively!]

tyler80 you're right. You can exchange an Aussie licence for a UK one. But you have to do this in the first two years you are here. I didn't then as I lived in central London and caught public transport everywhere. I also didn't think I'd still be here after 2 years [now 14 years and counting!].
However now I have two small children and live further out of central London. So having a licence would make life much easier.

I wanted to do my test here in London as this is where I will be driving. But I am now considering going elsewhere to do it.

eurochick I also think the bus lane thing is daft. That is actually why I failed my first test. I verbalised to the tester that I wasn't going in the bus lane as it was not within it's "open" time. However I had had it drummed into me that I must must drive in the left hand lane whenever possible. So when I got to a stretch of grey road I thought bus lane had finished and pulled in to left hand lane - to discover that the bus lane continued further up ahead but had been obscured by a bloomin' great bus on top of it. Automatic fail.

It just seems to me that the testers are most concerned with everything being perfect to test conditions rather than using a bit of common sense and recognising that in RL shit sometimes happens and as long as you don't do anything particularly stupid or dangerous it should really be a minor fault rather than an immediate fail! So if you do a lot of these things you will eventually fail for accruing minors which is fair enough but not if the rest of the drive was up to standard.

Venue shopping is a good idea. I did my second in Pinner, which was much nicer/quieter than the previous one in Kingsbury.

Pass rates vary dramatically between central London and Buttfuckville, rural Norfolk.

"driving " license.

YANBU. I often comment to DH that I would never have passed my test if I had grown up in London. There are too many situations where it is not clear what the 'technical' right answer is, even if there are obvious practical ways of handling things. I would venue shop myself, head to some quieter outer boroughs.

I prefer driving in London as everything goes so slowly!

Sorry about your test though

Vent away. Some examiners are meaner than others, and it sounds like you got a stickler. But you will pass eventually - I took my test in a busy London just-suburb, failed the first time (can't even remember why now) but passed the second time, despite, or possible because of, having to drive over some recently discarded 'Police Incident Do Not Cross' tape from some shooting that had taken place a few doors down from the test centre.

Although someone else I know took her test in a very rural area and failed because she didn't overtake a horse/rider at the right moment.

To be pedantic. Yes it is completely impossible to get a drivers licence in London or anywhere in the UK as we only issue Driving licences.This is not America!!

Sorry, we call them Driver's Licences in Australia as well. I still talk Aus as well as the Queen's English [but will always say Muller yoh-gurt not yog-urt!]

Yanbu,

When i was learning, 5/6 of my friends failed driving around Stratford.

I booked an intensive course in Kings Lynn ( shudder ) where the only troublesome drivers were in tractors.
Passed first time.

If you're looking for a London burb to take your test at I believe West Wickham has the best pass rate of all London test centres (this info may be out of date).

I took mine there about 18 months ago and the routes are all pretty straight forward and quiet during the day.

I've failed 3 times for daft things. I've given up because I don't have £50 a week to burn on lessons and we can't afford the insurance etc now anyway.

Weirdly enough, I failed my second test because it wasn't in London. I had all my driving lessons in East London, and the 2nd test was somewhere right on the very very edge of the conurbation. We went down a country road, and I got failed for sticking to 30 mph. Okay, I had no idea what the round white signs with the diagonal black line were, as I had never encountered one before .

I did pass on the 3rd test (somewhere in the wilds of SE London). And, if you learn to drive in London, you will be an official She Warrior of the roads, and have no fear of urban traffic, ever.