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Driving Test
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:34 am
by peter2095
Hi All
Sorry, i know another thread about cars, but at 9.20 this morning I heard the examiner say those special words, congratulations you've passed!!
2nd time lucky and all!!! although i am 22
How old was everyone when they passed and how many attempts?
Sorry, just still in a state of shock/excitment
Re: Driving Test
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:15 am
by Mid A 15
peter2095 wrote:Hi All
Sorry, i know another thread about cars, but at 9.20 this morning I heard the examiner say those special words, congratulations you've passed!!
2nd time lucky and all!!! although i am 22
How old was everyone when they passed and how many attempts?
Sorry, just still in a state of shock/excitment
Congratulations Peter!!

Not when driving obviously!
I was lucky enough to pass first time at the age of 20. That was in no small measure because of previous instruction received as a member of the Police Cadets at CH.
I've raised the subject of Police Cadets on another thread and gather that they only ran at CH for a short time during the seventies.
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:38 am
by J.R.
Ist time at the age of 17 !
Congratulations, Peter !
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:42 am
by Mrs C.
Congratulations!!
I passed first time the day before my 18th birthday - couldn`t have had a better present !
My 17 year old daughter passed 2 weeks ago (also 1st time) - her full licence has just arived this morning!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:05 pm
by Jude
I passed 2nd time when 17 - argh sooooooo long ago..
For those a little less near the top of passing - my dear son took 6 times to pass..... he was by then 18... can anyone beat that? To pass on their 6th attempt is pretty lonely I think!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:01 pm
by blondie95
I have my test at 3:27pm on Wednesday! Not panicking, im going to just go there and do my best, stay calm and if he asks for a parrallel park cross everything in the hope it goes as well as one did last week-which is novel for me normall it ends up too close of too far to/from kerb!
And if I pass I will be 22!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:12 pm
by Mrs C.
Good luck Amy!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:17 pm
by Vonny
blondie95 wrote:I have my test at 3:27pm on Wednesday!
That's a very precise time! Good Luck!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:03 pm
by midget
Good luck, Amy.
We used to live on a test route (our corner was ideal for reversing round). I arrived home one day to find that someone had gone in through the garden wall, and had taken down another bit of wall on the way out. Joe's sister had seen it all, and hastened to take down the car number, but I managed to catch the instructor as he arrived back to collect his car. The examiner had takent the keys and left the driver there. A few weeks later my sister-in-law's daughter was taking the test using the same route. She remarked to the examiner that her mother and brother were watching to see if she could go through the wall again, and was about to say she thought the examiner could have jumped on the brake when he said "I was that examiner. I don't think we'll give your family any fun today", and took her off to another corner.
Re: Driving Test
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:01 pm
by Stan
Mid A 15 wrote:peter2095 wrote:Hi All
Sorry, i know another thread about cars, but at 9.20 this morning I heard the examiner say those special words, congratulations you've passed!!
2nd time lucky and all!!! although i am 22
How old was everyone when they passed and how many attempts?
Sorry, just still in a state of shock/excitment
Congratulations Peter!!

Not when driving obviously!
I was lucky enough to pass first time at the age of 20. That was in no small measure because of previous instruction received as a member of the Police Cadets at CH.
I've raised the subject of Police Cadets on another thread and gather that they only ran at CH for a short time during the seventies.
Congratulations Peter.
I managed to pass first time at the late age of 29. Living in London and then near Cardiff I travelled everywhere by public transport or by bike and, consequently, didn't feel the need for a driving licence.
This may be surprising as my first driving lessons where at CH when I managed to get into the Police Cadets. For those of us below 17 we had to drive around the grounds again and again and.... On a cold and icy day one boy nearly managed to turn the car over.
Now ,for my sins ,I get to drive 25,000 miles each year and the fun seems to have disappeared.
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:03 pm
by sejintenej
God luck, Amy. Just try to relax and you should be OK.
Me? I failed first time even though I started by driving a DUKW on sand and water at the age of 8 before graduating to a Landrover. Passed before I was 18 from memory.
However, I was I think over 20 before I got my full M/C licence - a provisional was OK in those days and was for an unlimited duration. The stupid thing is I only rode a scooter but my licence allows me to buy and ride ANY motorcycle without any training.
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:22 pm
by kerrensimmonds
Good luck Amy! I will think of you on Wednesday. Take heart... my mother failed her driving test several times in the 1950's and 1960's, having held a Defence of the Realm Driving Licence during WW2! Road traffic had changed somewhat in the interim. But she did pass in the end, which was a great relief to us, her family!
I failed when I first took the test locally in West Sussex, aged early 20's, after instruction only from my father (who, many years later and not long before he died, caused me to sh*t br*cks as he pulled out onto a roundabout in front of others, saying calmly 'roundabouts are meant to keep the traffic moving'). Later in my 20's I took formal BSM lessons in London (my first lesson took me round Sloane Square in the rush hour.....) but then I did pass the test at the first attempt in London.
So it depends on the professionalism of the support and guidance you are given when you start the process of testing for the driving test.
I have driven happily (and sometimes on long journeys) since I passed the test, without incident. Fingers crossed.
Please let us know how you get on!
Kerren
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:34 pm
by Katharine
Good Luck, Amy! Try to relax, easier said than done, I know!
I first passed my test in Ghana and had a Ghanaian licence and an International one before I had a British one. When I took that test I was fairly heavily pregnant, perhaps he took pity one me!
One friend learnt to drive in Brunei when we were there - the test included, I kid you not, the correct prayers to say when approaching a roundabout and certain other hazards!!
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:43 pm
by jtaylor
CONGRATULATIONS!

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:51 pm
by Jude
Good Luck Amy - and just to let you know...
I passed my test after driving on the pavement (reason below)
hitting the accelerator before the brake in the emergency test
and talking non stop (nerves!) all the way through!
I also did my test in West Sussex - BSM in Worthing! (Kerren may remember them on the seafront!) I started off in Triumph Dolomites, they were lovely and spacious with good visability, then on the day of my test, all the Dolomites had been changed for Mini Metros (ghastly little things) and the one I had didn't go back far enough for my legs (I was 5' 11") hence I blame it on the car that I failed that test!
Driving on the Pavement was just after coming out of the test centre in the middle of Worthing (West Worthing High Street I think it was) cars were parked on the opposite side of the road, so the traffic was very slow, with that a siren started and an ambulance came into view - I looked at the road, then at the pavement and with words rushing out of my mouth and knowing I had then failed said "no pedestrians, no room for amubulance going on pavement!!" Thinking that was it I drove a bit madly I think, hitting the gas pedal before the brake when the tester quietly (And I MEAN HE WHISPERED!) "emergency stop please"!
When we got back to the test centre we went through the cards of what might appear on the road, and I was totally amazed when I was told I had passed. Apparently it was because I looked and said what I was doing.. However, I don't think I would like to take the test today - they don't use brakes or gear changes at roundabouts (until the last moment) and lots of weird and whacky ideas have crept into the test...
Will think of you and pray!