Owe Carter relays driving test horror stories from some of Confused.com's staff.
Sitting your driving test is nerve racking, there’s no doubt about that. If you’ve yet to take your test, we hope it goes smoothly for you. But things don’t always go according to plan, as members of Confused.com can testify...
Our first hapless case study is Michelle, who says: “During my first and most terrifying driving test, at one point I removed both hands from the steering wheel in a blind panic and covered my face! It’s worth noting that at the time I was approaching a set of traffic lights travelling at around 30mph! The examiner had to slam the brakes on at his side and I think he may have had an accident of his own. Unfortunately I failed my test on this occasion!” No kidding.
Steve told us: “As I pulled out of the test station in Wellington, Telford I remember seeing – and driving past – an elderly lady wearing a tan-coloured raincoat who was walking towards me along the path on my side of the road.
“The next thing I remember is seeing her in my rear-view mirror soaked to the skin, as I’d splashed her from the waist down with a puddle at the side of the road.
“Apparently I could have failed according to the examiner, for not giving adequate consideration to other road users... But as it was right at the start of the test he let me off!”
Matt has a cautionary tale: “My mate turned up for his driving test feeling confident after just having a lesson that went well. After forking out for the test he realised he had forgotten his passport... Consequently he was classed as an official failure without even getting behind the wheel.”
A test failure, yesterday
Some schadenfreude from Alex: “For my driving test, somebody drove out of the test centre with their hazard warning lights on, which is an instant fail. This made me laugh.”
Martin told us of his mum’s woes: “She wasn’t particularly good and failed twice... But convinced my dad that she’d been unlucky and applied again. Third time lucky, after all.
“On her test day – the 16th of October 1987 – we all woke up to The Great Storm... So the test centre was closed, along with half the roads in the UK. Perhaps it was a sign that she just wasn’t meant to drive…”
But it's not all doom and gloom...
However, not all of these stories are tragic. According to Rachel, “I grabbed the driving examiner’s leg when I went for the gear stick. I don’t think he minded though.”
Heledd also advocates charming your examiner: “Well, I think the instructor must have fancied me a bit, because I stalled as soon as I left the test centre; hit a kerb when doing a three-point turn; went over the 30mph speed limit (twice)... And despite all that I passed my test!”
And this writer? Well, I almost hit a lollipop operative on my second test. Apparently this only counts as a minor fault, so I still passed.
And we’ve saved the most bizarre story until last. Take it away, Tony:
“As is standard practice, I had a driving lesson prior to taking my test. Cutting a long story very short, a man walked straight out in to the road from between two parked cars. Neither I nor the instructor (with the dual controls) had time to react and I hit him at around 25-30 miles an hour. He went straight up over the windscreen and I recall watching him tumble down the back window and into the road.
“It was like a scene from a very bad sitcom, as the man I struck was your archetypal vagrant – scruffy clothes, staggering and clutching a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. He got up, walked into the opposite lane and was struck by the wing of another car coming the other way and bundled onto the pavement. I recall vividly two older ladies shouting at the man. One woman even waved her umbrella to emphasise her displeasure. The scruffy man got up again – bizarrely still clutching the unbroken bottle in a bag – and staggered off down a side street.
“Anyhow, after taking a moment to gather my thoughts the instructor and I moved to front of the car to check for damage. There was neither a dent nor a scratch on the car... All that remained was a ghostly damp palm print in the centre of the bonnet where I’d struck and launched the drunk up and over the roof.
“In my mind I reckoned that things couldn’t get worse on my driving test and it probably served to relax me. It was my second attempt, and I passed – although my heart was in my mouth when the examiner took me back down the exact same road an hour later during my test.”
Have you any heartbreaking tales of woe or life-affirming tales of triumph associated with your driving test? If so, we’d all love to hear them – so feel free to comment below.
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