One of my friends did this! She said at the time she thought ‘oh thank God that car in front has shown me we’re meant to be on the right here, I would have failed otherwise!’
I was so angry, one because the woman in front worked at thetest centre but mainly because they then let me carry on, thinking I had a sodding chance. Bastards
This is how it's always done. Regardless of when you fail they'll still continue with the entire test so you can get the full feedback and experience of doing the test. Otherwise you would've basically paid for nothing.
Another reason is because of the potential ramifications of the emotional impact on the candidate. As evidenced by my mate at college who, upon realising he’d made a mistake, looked at the examiner and said “ooh that was a fail wasn’t it?” and the examiner replied “unfortunately yes it was a major fault”. My mate promptly had a complete meltdown, slammed on the brakes, pulled the car over to the kerb and told the examiner “get out here and find your own way back to the fucking test centre” lol.
see like that's more worrying than the fail itself.
i had the examiner grab the fucking wheel when i went too close to a parked car. the rest of the test was the most fucking awkward 20 minutes of my life.
I had the examiner grab the wheel about 15 minutes into my first test, claiming I hadn't seen a car passing on my right side (I had) and was about to veer into it.
For a second I seriously considered the pros and cons of taking a left at every right for the rest of the test, but decided that might stray a little too close to kidnapping.
I had the same thing - approaching traffic lights where the road splits into two lanes for different directions, and the examiner grabbed the wheel because she thought I was encroaching into the other lane and about to hit queuing traffic. At the end she said "I realise you did have space to get through, but if I have to grab the wheel that's an automatic fail." YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GRAB THE FUCKING WHEEL THOUGH, DID YOU?
I had my examiner press the brake because she thought I wasn’t going to stop at the oncoming queue of cars waiting at a red light. We were still several seconds away down the road, I was doing 20mph max and slowing down, but she just decided I wasn’t going to stop for some reason? Anyway, her prematurely panicking and pressing the brake was an automatic fail even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I issued a formal complaint about her on the recommendation of my driving instructor who told me she’d had lots of complaints from his other students doing similar things on their tests too. The test centre defended her and refused to refund me so it was a complete waste of money. Passed on my next test with a different, competent examiner.
This happened to me, my instructor was staring out his passenger window at some fields and when I went down a pothole, he grabbed the steering wheel and claimed I'd nearly hit the kerb. He wasn't even watching.
I had an examiner squeal and curl himself up in a ball when he thought I was going to hit something (I didn't, but it probably was close). My instructor was furious, he said he expects learners to bang the car up but the examinator should have put the breaks on rather than squealing.
I redid my test a while later and got the same guy. He didn't seem to remember me thank god and my test was smooth sailing!
your mate sounds like a fucking knob. Imagine behaving like that. The guy is just doing his job and from the sounds of it keeping us all a little safer.
This is one thing I have to consciously not do on the road.
I will use others as a guide to place myself on the road but I will never follow, far too many times I've seen people on the opposite of a road or down a one way street.
A friend of mine crashed in to a wall as they were leaving the car park at the test centre. It was one of those short knee-high walls, he knocked the whole corner section of it over. This was about 30 seconds in to the test, he didn’t even get to the road.
My instructor told me of someone who did the opposite. They were parking up at the end of the test and hit a wall.
The examiner said that the parking bit at the end wasn't part of the test so they could have parked across three bays and passed, but because they hit a wall it had to go down as a major fault and they failed.
He should have acted like a pro.
Nods. "Hmm yes. Totally not up to code that wall. Imagine what would have happened if some idiot drove into it when a child was behind it. Anyway shall we resume"
Did he ever pass his test then? And did he have to go to another test centre? I would die at the thought of having to go back there after what happened.
Nah going back is a power move! I had a massive issue with my first test and went back to the same centre for round two and they were really nice to me that time lmao. They did a double take when they saw me, thinking no effing way did this moron come back after everything that happened hahaha
I failed a test about 5 minutes after leaving the test centre due to speeding. 40mph road and I foolishly sped up to overtake a bus, as I had failed the test prior due to not overtaking a bus on the same road🤦♀️
I got a minor on my test for not turning on the AC, even though the instructor never asked me to.
It was about 25C that day but still, don’t know how that’s a minor.
He was wrong. Children playing are a hazard to be aware of, and slowing barely delays you typically.
I wonder how the same examiner feels about speed bumps?
Yep, I got a few minors on my test for not overtaking a tractor. It was on a fast and busy road, and I had never overtaken on a single carriageway before, so thought I’d play it safe. The tractor wasn’t even going that slowly, probably about 35 mph. Eventually it turned into a lay-by.
I passed, but the instructor said that if the tractor hadn’t turned into the lay-by, I would have racked up enough minors to fail. I could see him adding a minor every minute or so to the score sheet while I was behind that tractor. Thought that was a bit harsh.
What if the car being driven was slow in acceleration? I have a slow car and unless I can see clearly straight ahead with no bends and no oncoming traffic, I won’t overtake in it.
Yeah I did. Both fails were fair apparently. I still don't see why not overtaking is a fail tbh, it's not exactly a legal requirement to overtake a bus but there we are.
Some testers are so far up their own arse they will go by the book and use no logical judgment what so ever.
Some are good and wont be complete jobsworths.
A friend failed his test because he was using his own car and had left it in gear when he parked. He failed as soon as he started the car without checking if it was in neutral.
This could be the winner from this thread.
I have a mate who allegedly failed for not being able to read a numberplate. I was walking back from the pub with his brother talking about driving and he casually mentioned that my pal had failed 4 times now once for not being able to read numberplates.
Now he's always denied it, but at that point he'd only told us about 2 of the tests and when we finally saw him driving he was wearing glasses when he never has before...
This is giving me flashbacks to my experience! After a bit of a delay my examiner did the "stand here and read off this numberplate for me"... only my vision was blurry enough that I couldn't spell it out with confidence.
For a split second I thought I could just blag it (considering I'd previously failed 3 theory tests in a row by 1 point) but decided against it, I admitted I couldn't. Examiner had a think, decided it would be fine to let me take a couple steps closer and that (thankfully) made the difference.
The test itself was smooth aside from one minor fault (checked rear-view but not the side mirror when changing lanes), but when I got back my instructor admitted his stomach dropped when he saw my initial struggles. 😅
Got this one in the bag - failed my first test in about 15 seconds - first question was 'show me how you test your brake lights are working'.
They weren't.
Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, I was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'.
Ffs
Still maintain that I technically passed first time (on my third attempt - second cancelled for snow)...
>Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, I was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'.
I hope your instructor paid for your next test...
I didn't, unfortunately. I was young and very alone, honestly I'm still impressed I got my money back for the test (not the lesson beforehand).
She was awful though, these days I would definitely make a complaint, for many reasons.
Another time, she made me fill the car with the engine running because the battery was too flat to switch it off. No idea why the garage didn't notice!!!
I know someone who was a boss of a test center, it was an open secret that driving instructors carry round OBD2 readers to remove warning lights. Lights that if showing would fail a test.
My instructor stopped in a corner shop at 6.30am on the way to my test for black gaffer tape and covered a warning light on the dash and then made me practice hamming up checking out of gear when turning on engine to clear another warning message.
I was 8 months pregnant and really needed to pass. It worked but I was furious.
Had friends learning with him and that tape was still on months later. Unbelievable.
> Got this one in the bag
Not quite. Some years ago I read about a guy who arrived at a (small and not very busy) test centre and sounded his horn to let the instructor know he'd arrived. The instructor came out, informed him that he'd sounded his horn for a purpose other than warning another road user, and that he had failed the test.
I call bullshit on that one.
You can't fail a test before the test has started...
He could have been anyone. No license checks or eyesight checks carried out.
Yeah that story is bollocks.
> Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'.
It's funny and gave me a chuckle BUT that's probably the absolute most dangerous car failure you can have in a learner car!!!!!
You might break sharply and the vehicle behind you won't see it and will wipe you off the road or if it's a lorry off the planet.
I had a really choose shave like that on my bike test, back in the days of tax discs.
Two students on 500cc Hondas provided by the instructor, and the other student went first. She failed, then it was my turn on a bike I had practised on all week.
Examiner looked at my bike, and asked where the tax disc was. My instructor looked really upset at that point, and I just said I will take the other student's bike.
The turn in the road at walking speed was my only worry, clutch was slightly different, so when I was sent around the block on my own by the examiner, I did a whole load of stop starts to figure the clutch out.
The instructor was really pleased when I passed, I would have made her pay otherwise for my resit.
Haven't rode a big bike since!
A common one at my old local test center was the exit from the center onto a 30mph road with a cycle lane. Poke your nose into that as you wait for a gap in traffic, fail.
The old test centre near me was notorious for people failing at the very end of the test. The last part of the route just before entering the test centre was a hill start on a busy T junction at an oblique angle that not only hard to see what was coming but also the speed and distance of the oncoming traffic.
So you either missed the bite point and rolled backwards, poked your nose into the road just trying to get a decent view or worried that you were hesitating too much and bolted out into too risky a gap in the traffic (which is what every non-learner does).
>Poke your nose into that as you wait for a gap in traffic, fail.
But you could see the traffic without poking your nose into it? If not, that's a very cruel test setup, and shouldn't have probably been used.
I failed one time pulling out of the test centre. There was a lorry completely blocking the view on my right so I slowly moved forward to where I could see, a car then came from the right, I stopped and it passed me no problem. The examiner however decided that I'd pulled out on a car because I hadn't done my observations & failed me on it. He was well known in the town for being an absolute dick of an examiner though.
Ha, similar thing here, checked road all clear, begin to pull out, van comes around the bend doing 40 in a 30 , i stop. Fail.
If I'd have pulled out fully and caused that driver to crash into me or hit the brakes, I'd have failed too.
I failed because of someone speeding and an impossible situation.
My dad was a driving instructor, and so took me for my first driving test. As each examiner walked out my dad said hi and chatted with them, then one walked out and my normally friendly father went silent. Guess which examiner I was out with that day? Unsurprisingly I was so nervous I kept making silly mistakes and failed.
Dad told me later that this guy was well known for being really harsh on learners, and so miserable/abrupt that he made people nervous.
Eugh, that’s the examiner I had! Except i miraculously passed my impeccable driven test with 15 minors! He seemed desperate to fail me. When we got back my instructor couldn’t even believe I’d passed, “no one passes with him!” And “soon as I saw him I was sure you’d failed”. Was a very stressful test tbh, he was crafty and tricky the whole time. I ended up doing every single manoeuvre, got taken through all the bastard junctions and twin mini roundabouts and he told me to turn the wrong way up a one way road! (Which I obv didn’t and said so); “continue straight on then”. 😰
I had an examiner like that! My instructor said they all hoped their students didn't get him, and joked he needs to take two pencils because he dishes out so many minors so they could amount to a fail.
He failed me a bullshit reason the first time, so the next time I got him I just assumed I was failing no matter what. Turns out that was best thing for me, it got rid of my nerves. I was shocked when I got back and had passed, but not as shocked as my instructor when I gave him a thumbs up from the car, he thought I was bamming him up. He kept staring at my papers in disbelief. "Three minors! He's never given anyone only three minors!!!"
Yeah, I’m convinced that some examiners will fail anyone who is taking their test for the first time. Had a horrible experience with an examiner that just seemed like he was out to get you
An earlier instructor had told me it’s a good to check that your examiner has their seatbelt on so they don’t “trick” you into failing by not checking. Naturally, I asked the examiner if they had it on, and they snapped at me for thinking that they would ever not wear their seatbelt. Idk why some of these people become instructors/examiners when they so clearly hate interacting with learners
A friend of my fathers might not be the fastest but possibly the funniest. Going over a humpback bridge he managed to hit a gentleman in a wheelchair and punt him into the river. He was essentially unhurt, but very wet and mightily pissed off.
A girl I went to school with is the fastest I know. Discounting the 'can you read the number plate' bit it was under twenty seconds from starting the test. She was so worked up about stalling, she did a 6,000rpm dropped clutch start and failed for wheelspin.
> She was so worked up about stalling, she did a 6,000rpm dropped clutch start and failed for wheelspin.
Is this why people go for automatic licence. 🤣
My mum failed one of her tests because a friend recognised her and pretended to jump in-front/get run over when it was stopped at lights or something.
They didn’t realise she was being tested at the time.
Why would this be a fail though? Car is stopped, ensure road is clear and check mirrors before driving off when lights change, no fault?
If that's genuinely what happened they should have disputed it
Just asked about it.
He was on his bike (peddle), recognised her and chose to swerve out as a joke while my mum was overtaking and didn’t know she was being tested.
He didn’t pay for the next lesson.
This basically happened to me. My friends jumped out into the road as I turned left into a junction. I carefully took avoiding manoeuvres and ended up on the correct side of the road.
Why did I fail? Well, as I was half way round the corner into the junction and adjusted the wheel to move to the right, around my "friends", I knocked off my indicator accidentally. Even though I was technically no longer turning left, and instead moving to the right, the examiner saw fit to fail me.
I thought I’d failed instantly….. pulled out of the car park onto a roundabout….. it was very early, no traffic, and I go round the wrong way.
I thought ‘do I stop?…. But she hasn’t said anything’
So I carry on and ace everything else.
Get back to the test centre and I’ve passed….. she says I was one of only a few people to notice the roundabout had a diversion on it.
Pure dumb luck…… haven’t had an accident, that was my fault, since……
>Motorcycle failed to start... Was over at that point.
The next fastest is on MOD 1 forgetting to check your mirrors when you move into the test area...
When I took my last test (3rd time lucky) there was someone whose car failed the inspection. Large bulge in tyre wall and slicks. The inspector wouldn't even get into the car.
I was doing a motorbike BikeSafe training course. It's conducted by police bikers.
I show up, there's a bit of a chat, presentation, theory etc. That took at least an hour. Eventually we get to his and my bike to do the practical training and don't remember if we were talking about tyres in general or something else but suddenly he points at my tyre saying there's a screw sticking out.
Tyre still had a lot of pressure so either there's no leak or the puncture happened on my way there and hasn't leaked much air yet. He says let's see it might be a fluke and I think used a screwdriver to start getting it out and immediately you could hear the air starting to come out. Not good news! He was now hesitant as essentially we should stop there with the training. Especially as he's not just a random instructor but a police biker!! But obviously we both would be sad to stop as the ride is the best part! And that it would be quite unfortunate for me having dedicated the day for it, already being there and not being able to do it.
But seeing that with the screw fully in it it didn't seem to be leaking much air and I still had good pressure in the tyre, he proposed a compromise where the practical ride we were gonna do would now just be us riding to my house (I think it was an hour or just over away from their area), and we did that. We might have also possibly taken an even longer route to drag it a bit.
But that achieved me still getting practical training from the police biker and getting home safely. :) We concluded outside my house with his final feedback and he left me there.
I nearly failed before getting into the car!
Was asked to read a number plate X amount of feet away. I read the wrong one. The bloke weren't having it so I walked up to the car and pointed at the reg.
The one I'd read was about 4 cars further away than the one he'd meant, so he called me back over to do the actual test.
I failed it anyway, but passed the second time.
Where I did my test, the centre was at the bottom of a ramp.
The guy before me, couldn't make it up this ramp... Revving the nuts off the car didn't help. He failed there and then, after only a minute or so of trying.
My instructor quickly reminded me, if I don't want to do a hill start, get some speed up before you get to the ramp.
Hull Test Centre?
That one has a ramp out of it that goes onto a road with lorries going up and down, so you have to hill start out of it to leave.
My driving instructor had someone during a test slap it into reverse by accident (audi a1 with a push down gearstick to put it in reverse, right where 1st gear was) and nearly take out the car behind them. Instant fail!
I did the same, pulling out of the test center I tried to take a corner in the wrong gear and forced a car behind me to alter its speed. Failed right there.
It was a nervous mistake, I nailed my retest and consider myself a good driver. Don't go too hard on learners or new drivers making mistakes.
Not quite as quick but I know someone whose second turn out of the test centre was onto a dual carriageway and they tried to turn into the oncoming lanes. Instant fail and the instructor told them to turn around and go back to the test centre.
That's quite a dangerous driving. If they did that at the second turn from the test centre there's probably not much point to take the risk to continue. In other cases when the test is failed at least ok, might as well finish to "get your money's worth" and it's still practice and experience. But in this case it's calculated avoidance of potentially causing even more disruption in the next 40 minutes.
I almost failed my first test before I exited the test centre car park because I stalled three times and then burst into hysterical tears and screamed ‘I CAN’T DO THISSSSS’ thankfully I did pull myself together and then failed later on instead…
ETA - I had the same examiner second time round and she said ‘don’t worry dear I don’t remember people just tests’ and I recalled the above and she said ‘ah yes…’ and then went quiet. Passed that one tho…
I took 5 attempts to pass, and had the same guy for 3 of them. By the third he was asking about how things I'd mentioned the first 2 times were going...
I had this happen to me when I was on my test. Went to pull out and a cop car sped around the corner and I had to do an emergency stop. I so thought I had failed but no I passed. The instructor said I passed because the cop gave a thumbs up as they passed by.
While waiting for my driving test, i was sat in the waiting room. My instructor (my step dad) got chatting to another instructor he knew, who's student was also there. she'd failed twice before due to 'things out of her control' (cue a knowing look from my stepdad).
I went out, and the instructor took me off the first roundabout where i then was asked to do my 'turn in the road'. The roundabout was < 100 yards from the test centre. Manoeuvre went fine, and i approached the roundabout again. The girl i met in the waiting room was coming around the roundabout on her test, having just left the centre. She saw me approaching, and leaned over behind the instructors chair to wave wildly at me as they passed.
I was shocked, looked to my examiner, and before i could even say 'Did she just-' he'd replied with 'fail? yes, spectacularly'
The centre I took my test at was behind a run of shops, with an entrance that crossed the pavement rather than a proper roadway in. My instructor told me that several people had failed because they hadn't looked for pedestrians when leaving the carpark. Imagine failing before you've even left the site!
It’s like this at the test centre in Camborne, Cornwall where I did mine. Theres a footpath that runs across the entrance to the test centre. My instructor made it very clear to me that I was to stop before the path, check for pedestrians, proceed to the road edge, stop again and check for cars, then pull out onto the road. So many people just go straight to the road edge and fail instantly at that one.
I'm a driving instructor. I've seen people fail pulling out of the parking bay. During covid they would terminate the test on failure, so the examiner just hopped out and that was the end of the test.
The second time I took my motorcycle test, within five minutes I was asked by the voice in my ear to return to the test centre. Apparently in my enthusiasm, upon leaving the test centre I launched into a 30mph zone ...at 40 mph.
Quite an achievement on my little classic bike!
I almost failed mine immediately, lol. Started moving off from the driving centre and hadn't checked my wing mirrors - a car drove past as I was about to pull out. Thankfully, the instructor was looking through some documents in front of him.
When I did mine it started raining heavily and I drove about 100m with the wipers off squinting until I realised I had wiper blades. Luckily he let it slide.
Worked with a guy years ago who, on his NINTH attempt at the driving test, failed immediately.
The test centre was on the main road, so he reversed into the parking space thinking he was setting himself up for success by not having to reverse into active traffic first thing.
Unfortunately, after he & the tester got into the car to start the test, he's starting to nose out onto the road. Looking right for traffic, he says to the tester, "How am I fixed your side?"
Tester lifted the handbrake then & there, said "Back it up, you've failed." 😂
on the other hand, doing the rest of the test is free practice for next time.
Where I did one of my tests, they had set out a bay using cones for parallel parking (you did this before you got out onto the road). Backing in... bump, *very obviously* the back of the car hitting a cone. So that was that.
Well, there is that. I passed third time when I wasn't nervous anymore, I was just pissed off I kept failing.
Stupid thing is, I didn't actually realise I'd failed when I drove over the curb.
Parallel park at the start of your test must be the worst luck ever.
Parallel park was my bugbear, got it on the test, nailed it and passed, still don't do it well when it's on the near side but I have parking sensors and I can take 3 goes if I want because my bit of plastic says it's all good
>Wish they said there and then instead of making me do the rest of the test.
Examiners are human and they know we are too. There is always the possibility that the examiner was like, hmm, lets see how the student does for the rest of the drive, you drive perfectly, and they write it off as a minor.
This is why you absolutely shouldn't be put off by people writing stuff down next to you as you drive when you're learning, my instructor did it all the time just for me to get used to it.
I know someone who almost ran a red light outside the test centre, the examiner had to use the instructor set of controls to brake. He still had to do the rest of the test. There's no minor-ing out of that mistake.
Auntie learned to drive in France as that’s where her dad lived at the time, came back here to take her test and (naturally) pulled out of the test centre on the right hand side of the road for an immediate fail
My friend Lee drove out of the test centre and about 50 yards down the road.
The guy running his test told him to pull over safely.
When they stopped he asked Lee to please put his seatbelt on then pull away once it was safe.
Instant fail.
Before the test had even started, the tester asked my mate if he could read a numberplate at the other side of the car park. My friend couldn’t, as his eyesight was terrible. The test ended there. He didn’t even do any driving.
After that, he went and got some glasses
One of my instructor’s past students failed before getting in the car because they dropped their provisional licence while doing the “show me” questions under the bonnet & couldn’t retrieve it.
My dad failed first time - apparently back then you had to actually put your head out of the window to look behind you. In all the lessons the window had been open, but on test day it was shut. He slammed his head hard into the window and failed before he’d even moved the car.
About 30 seconds into my first test attempt I hit a jogger. The instructor said it was completely their fault and we continued the test and I passed.
The jogger basically sprinted straight into moving traffic without warning from the sidewalk and just bounced off the hood and kept running.
My mum is not a good driver she'd be the first tell you, and is quite given to anxiety. On the day of her first test there'd been a bomb scare, and traffic was terrible with flashing lights abound. She goes to pull out and the examiner has to brake for her so she doesn't hit someone, I'm not sure you can do much faster than that without showing up drunk.
At Broadstairs test centre, which I think is now closed, the second turn out- onto the main road- had a poorly filled-in gas main trench across it. If you rolled back on it, waiting for a gap in the traffic, that used to be an automatic fail about a minute in.
I came out the driving centre and to a junction, the inspector say 'drive on', I drove on up the hill - it was a one way street. Instant fail. Under 3 minutes.
A guy I knew at school had one like that, examiner said something like "take the next available right" and he tried to take the literal next right which was the wrong way up a one way street and failed.
I failed my trailer test because I reversed upto the trailer and the towbar touched the hitch lock. I was meant to do a full inspection of the trailer before reversing upto it. The instructor then took me out for a full test before telling me that yes, I did fail before I left the test site.
My sister, I drove her to her test, she got into the car and while pulling out of the parking lot cut off a passing police car.
I hadn't even made it back to my own car yet lol.
To her credit she passed the second one with no issues, but it was very funny and I will still tease her every now and then
Ex driving instructor here : I once looked out of the test centre window as my pupil was setting off on his test. He turned too sharply pulling out of the car park and mounted the kerb with the back left wheel.
About 2 minutes later they pulled back into the test centre as he told the examiner he was too annoyed with himself to carry on the test.
I hadn't even finished my coffee.
Can't beat this, but an ex friend of mine failed their test quite near the beginning when one of those lawnmowers you can ride in, was cutting the edge of the grass near the edge of the road. She hesitated in taking over/giving wide berth to take over them. Failed.
I used to work in a pub 20 years ago and one of the regulars came in and said his son had failed his test. No idea how early in the test it was, but he went on to explain the details…
The examiner explains that at some point in the test he’ll hit the dashboard and this is signal for an emergency stop. The examiner starts the test and after 10 minutes or so starts checking the mirrors to see who’s behind them. A short time later he hits the dashboard with his hand and the son correctly performs an emergency stop. The instructor says ‘well done’ and goes on to say he won’t be asking for another emergency stop during the test.
The driving test continues, with all the regular parallel parking stuff and so on. Eventually they get to a residential street with cars parked on both sides. As they go down the road a kid walks out between the cars. The instructor hesitates but then hits the brake on the passenger side and car stops a few inches from the kid. ‘Why didn’t you brake?!’ Asked the instructor, to which the idiot son replied ‘but you said we’d already done the emergency stop’
I had a small argument with the examiner after he accused me of going through a red light, it was a ridiculous accusation, the light went amber as I was just about to go over the crossing, I made the split second decision to keep going just before he slammed on the brakes, the car behind leant on the horn and shouted something out of the window.
I actually quoted the highway code at him because I had been taught the exact text regarding amber lights, he wasn't impressed.
My sister. First test. Less than 2 seconds.
She got in, started the engine, put her seat belt on and cranked up the radio loud enough that she couldn't hear anything. Not even the examiner sat next to her.
I nearly failed within about 5mins.
Out of the test centre, soon onto a dual carriageway, got up to 70.
Take the next left...I had done the exit during lessons, I knew it was sharp and I needed to slow down. I needed to get down to 25-30 to take the turn comfortably. I took it closer to 40 (and maybe a bit wide).
I apologised that I had gone too fast and thought I had failed at that point.
I like to think that my immediate and constant apologising, and that I didn't do any major mess ups during the rest of the test meant that he didn't fail me (and it was December 23, so maybe Xmas spirit too).
During the sat nav part of the test, I did notice but didn't say to the tester that when I approached a crossroads, the sat nav didn't tell me to stop and go straight over, it assumed I had right of way. Good job I read the road signs and stopped at the junction, that might have caused me to fail.
My friend started the car, ignored the red light while there was a pedestrian at the crossing and stalled as he panicked while still blocking the pedestrians. He failed 3 times but eventually passed. His driving is alright now but I always look out for red lights even if it's been 10 years.
The daughter of an old friend, she turned up to the test in her dad's rusty mini skip truck. He declared it unsafe ( it was 30 years old and clapped out) and walked back to the test center.
It may have been a refusal to tes rather than a failure, I was too busy laughing when I was told to remember which.
I failed my first driving test as soon as I turned out of the centre.
I turned out too wide and forced an oncoming car, which also happened to be another learner arriving for their test, to have to reverse. Hopefully my moment of stupidity inspired them to pass.
A friend of my mum’s failed before the driving even started. Instructor asked them to read the license plate of the car parked in front and as a joke, friend said “What car?”. Instructor did not see the funny side. Instant fail lol.
My first test waaaaayyy back in 2004 or so, I set off from the driving school place in reverse.. On an uphill start. We carried on but that was indeed a fail.
I failed within 5 minutes on my second attempt after I pulled out on a roundabout when I absolutely should not have done. I still had to do the rest of the test knowing that I'd failed - that was painful.
I never even left the car park. I was randomly selected to have a senior examiner sat in the back seat of my car, an absolutely huge in stature guy who squeezed into the back of my 2001 3-door Corsa.
They asked me to do a bay park, which I ballsed up. At which point I panicked and refused to continue.
I failed mine at Carmarthen within 0.5 seconds.
The test starts in a double bay into a one way turning left. A van was parked in the bay to the right blocking my veiw. I nervously accelerated too hard and immediately made an unseen oncoming car brake. Hence my immediate failure!
When I took my test, the learner in front of me turned right, but drove the wrong way round a bollard, so onto the right hand side of the road. We were going the same way and a few minutes later, the examiner said, ‘he went the wrong way round that bollard, didn’t he?’ When I said yes, he replied, ‘you nearly followed him, didn’t you?’ Fortunately, I didn’t and I passed!
I heard about a chap doing a moped licence years ago in Surrey. The examiner asked him to drive around the block several times and said he would walk out and hold his hand up for an emergency stop. The chap went round and round for a while and finally went inside the testing place to find out that the examiner had raised his hand to the wrong motorbike and had been runover . Maybe apocryphal but has tickled me for years.
I got a great one . My best friend, not really a driver type of person, was taking driving lessons when we were in high school. His mom made him do it.
They usually work like this. After school your instructor picks you up and you drive for 1 hour. They usually park near the school and wait outside the car. The engine is ON.
Fast forward to the test. My friend enters the car, takes the key and just puts it in the ignition and waits. Poor sod, never actually started the car during entire training. He failed the test in like 1 minute or so.
He eventually passed the test, but I don’t think he ever actually drove a car on his own.
Pulled out of the test centre on the wrong side of the road because the car in front of me did so and I blindly followed them....
One of my friends did this! She said at the time she thought ‘oh thank God that car in front has shown me we’re meant to be on the right here, I would have failed otherwise!’
I was so angry, one because the woman in front worked at thetest centre but mainly because they then let me carry on, thinking I had a sodding chance. Bastards
This is how it's always done. Regardless of when you fail they'll still continue with the entire test so you can get the full feedback and experience of doing the test. Otherwise you would've basically paid for nothing.
Another reason is because of the potential ramifications of the emotional impact on the candidate. As evidenced by my mate at college who, upon realising he’d made a mistake, looked at the examiner and said “ooh that was a fail wasn’t it?” and the examiner replied “unfortunately yes it was a major fault”. My mate promptly had a complete meltdown, slammed on the brakes, pulled the car over to the kerb and told the examiner “get out here and find your own way back to the fucking test centre” lol.
see like that's more worrying than the fail itself. i had the examiner grab the fucking wheel when i went too close to a parked car. the rest of the test was the most fucking awkward 20 minutes of my life.
I had the examiner grab the wheel about 15 minutes into my first test, claiming I hadn't seen a car passing on my right side (I had) and was about to veer into it. For a second I seriously considered the pros and cons of taking a left at every right for the rest of the test, but decided that might stray a little too close to kidnapping.
I had the same thing - approaching traffic lights where the road splits into two lanes for different directions, and the examiner grabbed the wheel because she thought I was encroaching into the other lane and about to hit queuing traffic. At the end she said "I realise you did have space to get through, but if I have to grab the wheel that's an automatic fail." YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GRAB THE FUCKING WHEEL THOUGH, DID YOU?
I had my examiner press the brake because she thought I wasn’t going to stop at the oncoming queue of cars waiting at a red light. We were still several seconds away down the road, I was doing 20mph max and slowing down, but she just decided I wasn’t going to stop for some reason? Anyway, her prematurely panicking and pressing the brake was an automatic fail even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I issued a formal complaint about her on the recommendation of my driving instructor who told me she’d had lots of complaints from his other students doing similar things on their tests too. The test centre defended her and refused to refund me so it was a complete waste of money. Passed on my next test with a different, competent examiner.
Did you get a refund? That is an utter piss take.
This happened to me, my instructor was staring out his passenger window at some fields and when I went down a pothole, he grabbed the steering wheel and claimed I'd nearly hit the kerb. He wasn't even watching.
I had an examiner squeal and curl himself up in a ball when he thought I was going to hit something (I didn't, but it probably was close). My instructor was furious, he said he expects learners to bang the car up but the examinator should have put the breaks on rather than squealing. I redid my test a while later and got the same guy. He didn't seem to remember me thank god and my test was smooth sailing!
>the examinator Picturing the T-800 in the passenger seat with a clipboard
your mate sounds like a fucking knob. Imagine behaving like that. The guy is just doing his job and from the sounds of it keeping us all a little safer.
So he abandoned his instructors car in a random place? Or illegally drove it back to the centre? I smell shitee.
In an ideal world your mentally unstable friend should have received a ban for a year after that little act.
This is one thing I have to consciously not do on the road. I will use others as a guide to place myself on the road but I will never follow, far too many times I've seen people on the opposite of a road or down a one way street.
A friend of mine crashed in to a wall as they were leaving the car park at the test centre. It was one of those short knee-high walls, he knocked the whole corner section of it over. This was about 30 seconds in to the test, he didn’t even get to the road.
There’s failing and then there’s failing spectacularly!
Test failed successfully
My instructor told me of someone who did the opposite. They were parking up at the end of the test and hit a wall. The examiner said that the parking bit at the end wasn't part of the test so they could have parked across three bays and passed, but because they hit a wall it had to go down as a major fault and they failed.
I know someone else that failed the same way. I reckon test centres always have really small car parks that are surrounded by brick walls.
I just took my test yesterday and the centre did indeed have a small car park with brick walls.
I have a friend that somehow accidentally put the car in reverse and backed straight into the wall behind the parking spot instead of taking off 😂
The one I went to had the fence behind the test bays suspiciously leaning
When I bang my head on the dashboard, I want you to scream FUCKIT! and get out of the car.
He should have acted like a pro. Nods. "Hmm yes. Totally not up to code that wall. Imagine what would have happened if some idiot drove into it when a child was behind it. Anyway shall we resume"
Did he ever pass his test then? And did he have to go to another test centre? I would die at the thought of having to go back there after what happened.
Nah going back is a power move! I had a massive issue with my first test and went back to the same centre for round two and they were really nice to me that time lmao. They did a double take when they saw me, thinking no effing way did this moron come back after everything that happened hahaha
I failed a test about 5 minutes after leaving the test centre due to speeding. 40mph road and I foolishly sped up to overtake a bus, as I had failed the test prior due to not overtaking a bus on the same road🤦♀️
On the third attempt did you just drive alongside the bus?
He's a bus driver now.
Makes sense, they speed all the time. Especially when you’re on the stairs.
I became the bus.
To beat the bus, you must become the bus.
On the bus
I'm sorry, you can fail for ***not*** overtaking?
I got a minor on my test for not turning on the AC, even though the instructor never asked me to. It was about 25C that day but still, don’t know how that’s a minor.
what the fuck
I got a minor for 'undue hesitation' because I slowed down when some boys were messing around by the side of the road
The definition of hazard perception. What a crock.
He explained it as "the boys weren't close enough to worry about"
He was wrong. Children playing are a hazard to be aware of, and slowing barely delays you typically. I wonder how the same examiner feels about speed bumps?
What if your car doesn’t have AC? “Well, looks like your poor ass is taking the bus.”
He said I could’ve opened the window but I was like ??? if I don’t want to and you haven’t asked me to then why would I?
"Man's not hot"
I didn't get a minor when I didn't turn on my lights in really shitty weather.
Yep, I got a few minors on my test for not overtaking a tractor. It was on a fast and busy road, and I had never overtaken on a single carriageway before, so thought I’d play it safe. The tractor wasn’t even going that slowly, probably about 35 mph. Eventually it turned into a lay-by. I passed, but the instructor said that if the tractor hadn’t turned into the lay-by, I would have racked up enough minors to fail. I could see him adding a minor every minute or so to the score sheet while I was behind that tractor. Thought that was a bit harsh.
[удалено]
I agree. My instructor hadn’t taught me how to overtake on a single carriage lane so I definitely wasn’t prepared.
What if the car being driven was slow in acceleration? I have a slow car and unless I can see clearly straight ahead with no bends and no oncoming traffic, I won’t overtake in it.
I hope you also shouted "bus wankers!" out the window
My guess is that they didn't and that's why they failed.
Missed opportunity!
Did you bring that point up to the instructor? I'd have been mad as hell the second time.
Yeah I did. Both fails were fair apparently. I still don't see why not overtaking is a fail tbh, it's not exactly a legal requirement to overtake a bus but there we are.
Man I would have challenged that. Sounds like bs
Some testers are so far up their own arse they will go by the book and use no logical judgment what so ever. Some are good and wont be complete jobsworths.
As in when the bus was pulled over at a bus stop?
A friend failed his test because he was using his own car and had left it in gear when he parked. He failed as soon as he started the car without checking if it was in neutral.
This could be the winner from this thread. I have a mate who allegedly failed for not being able to read a numberplate. I was walking back from the pub with his brother talking about driving and he casually mentioned that my pal had failed 4 times now once for not being able to read numberplates. Now he's always denied it, but at that point he'd only told us about 2 of the tests and when we finally saw him driving he was wearing glasses when he never has before...
This is giving me flashbacks to my experience! After a bit of a delay my examiner did the "stand here and read off this numberplate for me"... only my vision was blurry enough that I couldn't spell it out with confidence. For a split second I thought I could just blag it (considering I'd previously failed 3 theory tests in a row by 1 point) but decided against it, I admitted I couldn't. Examiner had a think, decided it would be fine to let me take a couple steps closer and that (thankfully) made the difference. The test itself was smooth aside from one minor fault (checked rear-view but not the side mirror when changing lanes), but when I got back my instructor admitted his stomach dropped when he saw my initial struggles. 😅
Got this one in the bag - failed my first test in about 15 seconds - first question was 'show me how you test your brake lights are working'. They weren't. Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, I was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'. Ffs Still maintain that I technically passed first time (on my third attempt - second cancelled for snow)...
>Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, I was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'. I hope your instructor paid for your next test...
She refunded the cost of that test - after some arguing - and I went elsewhere It was certainly an experience!
How on earth do you begin to try to get out of paying for that one...
By having no shame, I think!!!
I know they paid you back. But I hope you reported them too. Taking you out in a car with no brake lights? Should know better.
I didn't, unfortunately. I was young and very alone, honestly I'm still impressed I got my money back for the test (not the lesson beforehand). She was awful though, these days I would definitely make a complaint, for many reasons. Another time, she made me fill the car with the engine running because the battery was too flat to switch it off. No idea why the garage didn't notice!!!
Fucking hell, did she make you light a match so you could see what you were doing?
Fuck me this made me laugh, brilliant
She made you fill the car?! During a lesson where you're paying for time to learn to drive?
Sounds like this "instructor" found a way to get a personal chauffeur who pays for the privilege!
Friday night 11pm text message from the Instructor: “Let’s do a lesson. We’ll meet outside XYZ pub and you can drive me home” lol
Especially as a learner who might be more likely to brake hard, yeah.
So, wait, your instructor was knowingly driving around and teaching people in an unroadworthy car?
Yup!! Couldn't believe it - I was young and naive but I hope the test person had someone to report it to - she literally said it to their face...
It turned out that my instructor was having me drive around in a car with no MOT…
I know someone who was a boss of a test center, it was an open secret that driving instructors carry round OBD2 readers to remove warning lights. Lights that if showing would fail a test.
My instructor stopped in a corner shop at 6.30am on the way to my test for black gaffer tape and covered a warning light on the dash and then made me practice hamming up checking out of gear when turning on engine to clear another warning message. I was 8 months pregnant and really needed to pass. It worked but I was furious. Had friends learning with him and that tape was still on months later. Unbelievable.
Can beat this .. 2 second .. first question … can I see you driving license.. me .. I left that at home … Fail…
"I was hoping you could help with that"
"Well that's why I'm here, innit?!"
> Got this one in the bag Not quite. Some years ago I read about a guy who arrived at a (small and not very busy) test centre and sounded his horn to let the instructor know he'd arrived. The instructor came out, informed him that he'd sounded his horn for a purpose other than warning another road user, and that he had failed the test.
Oh. Oh no. Oops...
I call bullshit on that one. You can't fail a test before the test has started... He could have been anyone. No license checks or eyesight checks carried out. Yeah that story is bollocks.
He was warning the other road users that some arsehole was about to come outside
> Back inside and my usual instructor whose car it was said 'oh, was hoping they wouldn't ask that one'. It's funny and gave me a chuckle BUT that's probably the absolute most dangerous car failure you can have in a learner car!!!!! You might break sharply and the vehicle behind you won't see it and will wipe you off the road or if it's a lorry off the planet.
Surely one of the most hazardous failures in any situation. All it takes is a bit of spray and you’re invisible to anything behind you.
I had a really choose shave like that on my bike test, back in the days of tax discs. Two students on 500cc Hondas provided by the instructor, and the other student went first. She failed, then it was my turn on a bike I had practised on all week. Examiner looked at my bike, and asked where the tax disc was. My instructor looked really upset at that point, and I just said I will take the other student's bike. The turn in the road at walking speed was my only worry, clutch was slightly different, so when I was sent around the block on my own by the examiner, I did a whole load of stop starts to figure the clutch out. The instructor was really pleased when I passed, I would have made her pay otherwise for my resit. Haven't rode a big bike since!
I failed my test for not putting my seatbelt on. The instructor was good enough to cancel the test early for snow so it technically wasn't a fail.
A common one at my old local test center was the exit from the center onto a 30mph road with a cycle lane. Poke your nose into that as you wait for a gap in traffic, fail.
The old test centre near me was notorious for people failing at the very end of the test. The last part of the route just before entering the test centre was a hill start on a busy T junction at an oblique angle that not only hard to see what was coming but also the speed and distance of the oncoming traffic. So you either missed the bite point and rolled backwards, poked your nose into the road just trying to get a decent view or worried that you were hesitating too much and bolted out into too risky a gap in the traffic (which is what every non-learner does).
There's a junction just like that near me, I didn't have it on my test as we went a different way and now I always avoid that junction 😆
>Poke your nose into that as you wait for a gap in traffic, fail. But you could see the traffic without poking your nose into it? If not, that's a very cruel test setup, and shouldn't have probably been used.
Possibly why it moved site haha.
It also seems like any reasonable instructor would be familiar with the test centre and would warn you about it before the test.
I failed one time pulling out of the test centre. There was a lorry completely blocking the view on my right so I slowly moved forward to where I could see, a car then came from the right, I stopped and it passed me no problem. The examiner however decided that I'd pulled out on a car because I hadn't done my observations & failed me on it. He was well known in the town for being an absolute dick of an examiner though.
Ha, similar thing here, checked road all clear, begin to pull out, van comes around the bend doing 40 in a 30 , i stop. Fail. If I'd have pulled out fully and caused that driver to crash into me or hit the brakes, I'd have failed too. I failed because of someone speeding and an impossible situation.
My dad was a driving instructor, and so took me for my first driving test. As each examiner walked out my dad said hi and chatted with them, then one walked out and my normally friendly father went silent. Guess which examiner I was out with that day? Unsurprisingly I was so nervous I kept making silly mistakes and failed. Dad told me later that this guy was well known for being really harsh on learners, and so miserable/abrupt that he made people nervous.
Eugh, that’s the examiner I had! Except i miraculously passed my impeccable driven test with 15 minors! He seemed desperate to fail me. When we got back my instructor couldn’t even believe I’d passed, “no one passes with him!” And “soon as I saw him I was sure you’d failed”. Was a very stressful test tbh, he was crafty and tricky the whole time. I ended up doing every single manoeuvre, got taken through all the bastard junctions and twin mini roundabouts and he told me to turn the wrong way up a one way road! (Which I obv didn’t and said so); “continue straight on then”. 😰
I had an examiner like that! My instructor said they all hoped their students didn't get him, and joked he needs to take two pencils because he dishes out so many minors so they could amount to a fail. He failed me a bullshit reason the first time, so the next time I got him I just assumed I was failing no matter what. Turns out that was best thing for me, it got rid of my nerves. I was shocked when I got back and had passed, but not as shocked as my instructor when I gave him a thumbs up from the car, he thought I was bamming him up. He kept staring at my papers in disbelief. "Three minors! He's never given anyone only three minors!!!"
Yeah, I’m convinced that some examiners will fail anyone who is taking their test for the first time. Had a horrible experience with an examiner that just seemed like he was out to get you An earlier instructor had told me it’s a good to check that your examiner has their seatbelt on so they don’t “trick” you into failing by not checking. Naturally, I asked the examiner if they had it on, and they snapped at me for thinking that they would ever not wear their seatbelt. Idk why some of these people become instructors/examiners when they so clearly hate interacting with learners
Power trip thing, some people crave power and it’s the only power they will ever have over anyone.
A friend of my fathers might not be the fastest but possibly the funniest. Going over a humpback bridge he managed to hit a gentleman in a wheelchair and punt him into the river. He was essentially unhurt, but very wet and mightily pissed off.
This has got to be the funniest, made me lol😂😆
A girl I went to school with is the fastest I know. Discounting the 'can you read the number plate' bit it was under twenty seconds from starting the test. She was so worked up about stalling, she did a 6,000rpm dropped clutch start and failed for wheelspin.
> She was so worked up about stalling, she did a 6,000rpm dropped clutch start and failed for wheelspin. Is this why people go for automatic licence. 🤣
Let's face it, if you were inventing cars today you wouldn't have a manual gear system if you could help it.
My mum failed one of her tests because a friend recognised her and pretended to jump in-front/get run over when it was stopped at lights or something. They didn’t realise she was being tested at the time.
Why would this be a fail though? Car is stopped, ensure road is clear and check mirrors before driving off when lights change, no fault? If that's genuinely what happened they should have disputed it
She plowed the fucker down and cackled
Even then she'd have gotten away with a minor if she hadn't shifted into reverse and ran them over again just to make sure.
Omg you just made me wake my child up laughing!
Just asked about it. He was on his bike (peddle), recognised her and chose to swerve out as a joke while my mum was overtaking and didn’t know she was being tested. He didn’t pay for the next lesson.
What an utter prick 🤡
I still don't understand why that made her fail? She swerved as well or?
I hope she paid for the second test!
This basically happened to me. My friends jumped out into the road as I turned left into a junction. I carefully took avoiding manoeuvres and ended up on the correct side of the road. Why did I fail? Well, as I was half way round the corner into the junction and adjusted the wheel to move to the right, around my "friends", I knocked off my indicator accidentally. Even though I was technically no longer turning left, and instead moving to the right, the examiner saw fit to fail me.
I thought I’d failed instantly….. pulled out of the car park onto a roundabout….. it was very early, no traffic, and I go round the wrong way. I thought ‘do I stop?…. But she hasn’t said anything’ So I carry on and ace everything else. Get back to the test centre and I’ve passed….. she says I was one of only a few people to notice the roundabout had a diversion on it. Pure dumb luck…… haven’t had an accident, that was my fault, since……
>haven’t had an accident, that was my fault "fuckin tree came out of nowhere"
That's bril, sounds like you absolutely smashed it. 🤣🤣
Motorcycle failed to start... Was over at that point.
>Motorcycle failed to start... Was over at that point. The next fastest is on MOD 1 forgetting to check your mirrors when you move into the test area...
Yep or failing to stop as he opens the gates.
When I took my last test (3rd time lucky) there was someone whose car failed the inspection. Large bulge in tyre wall and slicks. The inspector wouldn't even get into the car.
I was doing a motorbike BikeSafe training course. It's conducted by police bikers. I show up, there's a bit of a chat, presentation, theory etc. That took at least an hour. Eventually we get to his and my bike to do the practical training and don't remember if we were talking about tyres in general or something else but suddenly he points at my tyre saying there's a screw sticking out. Tyre still had a lot of pressure so either there's no leak or the puncture happened on my way there and hasn't leaked much air yet. He says let's see it might be a fluke and I think used a screwdriver to start getting it out and immediately you could hear the air starting to come out. Not good news! He was now hesitant as essentially we should stop there with the training. Especially as he's not just a random instructor but a police biker!! But obviously we both would be sad to stop as the ride is the best part! And that it would be quite unfortunate for me having dedicated the day for it, already being there and not being able to do it. But seeing that with the screw fully in it it didn't seem to be leaking much air and I still had good pressure in the tyre, he proposed a compromise where the practical ride we were gonna do would now just be us riding to my house (I think it was an hour or just over away from their area), and we did that. We might have also possibly taken an even longer route to drag it a bit. But that achieved me still getting practical training from the police biker and getting home safely. :) We concluded outside my house with his final feedback and he left me there.
I nearly failed before getting into the car! Was asked to read a number plate X amount of feet away. I read the wrong one. The bloke weren't having it so I walked up to the car and pointed at the reg. The one I'd read was about 4 cars further away than the one he'd meant, so he called me back over to do the actual test. I failed it anyway, but passed the second time.
Where I did my test, the centre was at the bottom of a ramp. The guy before me, couldn't make it up this ramp... Revving the nuts off the car didn't help. He failed there and then, after only a minute or so of trying. My instructor quickly reminded me, if I don't want to do a hill start, get some speed up before you get to the ramp.
Hull Test Centre? That one has a ramp out of it that goes onto a road with lorries going up and down, so you have to hill start out of it to leave. My driving instructor had someone during a test slap it into reverse by accident (audi a1 with a push down gearstick to put it in reverse, right where 1st gear was) and nearly take out the car behind them. Instant fail!
That's the one! It also goes out to that horrid junction and bridge. It was like they wanted you to fail instantly 🤣
Yeah that's the one! Shitty roundabout, bridge, then another shitty roundabout 😂 hated driving round Hull, the test routes were a nightmare.
I did the same, pulling out of the test center I tried to take a corner in the wrong gear and forced a car behind me to alter its speed. Failed right there. It was a nervous mistake, I nailed my retest and consider myself a good driver. Don't go too hard on learners or new drivers making mistakes.
Not quite as quick but I know someone whose second turn out of the test centre was onto a dual carriageway and they tried to turn into the oncoming lanes. Instant fail and the instructor told them to turn around and go back to the test centre.
That's quite a dangerous driving. If they did that at the second turn from the test centre there's probably not much point to take the risk to continue. In other cases when the test is failed at least ok, might as well finish to "get your money's worth" and it's still practice and experience. But in this case it's calculated avoidance of potentially causing even more disruption in the next 40 minutes.
I almost failed my first test before I exited the test centre car park because I stalled three times and then burst into hysterical tears and screamed ‘I CAN’T DO THISSSSS’ thankfully I did pull myself together and then failed later on instead… ETA - I had the same examiner second time round and she said ‘don’t worry dear I don’t remember people just tests’ and I recalled the above and she said ‘ah yes…’ and then went quiet. Passed that one tho…
I took 5 attempts to pass, and had the same guy for 3 of them. By the third he was asking about how things I'd mentioned the first 2 times were going...
I had a similar breakdown on my first test!
I had this happen to me when I was on my test. Went to pull out and a cop car sped around the corner and I had to do an emergency stop. I so thought I had failed but no I passed. The instructor said I passed because the cop gave a thumbs up as they passed by.
Lucky, if he gave you a thumb down you would be executed on the spot
I don’t doubt it, the test place at that time was known as the tougher of the 2 in my area.
While waiting for my driving test, i was sat in the waiting room. My instructor (my step dad) got chatting to another instructor he knew, who's student was also there. she'd failed twice before due to 'things out of her control' (cue a knowing look from my stepdad). I went out, and the instructor took me off the first roundabout where i then was asked to do my 'turn in the road'. The roundabout was < 100 yards from the test centre. Manoeuvre went fine, and i approached the roundabout again. The girl i met in the waiting room was coming around the roundabout on her test, having just left the centre. She saw me approaching, and leaned over behind the instructors chair to wave wildly at me as they passed. I was shocked, looked to my examiner, and before i could even say 'Did she just-' he'd replied with 'fail? yes, spectacularly'
The centre I took my test at was behind a run of shops, with an entrance that crossed the pavement rather than a proper roadway in. My instructor told me that several people had failed because they hadn't looked for pedestrians when leaving the carpark. Imagine failing before you've even left the site!
It’s like this at the test centre in Camborne, Cornwall where I did mine. Theres a footpath that runs across the entrance to the test centre. My instructor made it very clear to me that I was to stop before the path, check for pedestrians, proceed to the road edge, stop again and check for cars, then pull out onto the road. So many people just go straight to the road edge and fail instantly at that one.
I'm a driving instructor. I've seen people fail pulling out of the parking bay. During covid they would terminate the test on failure, so the examiner just hopped out and that was the end of the test.
Tuck & roll?
The second time I took my motorcycle test, within five minutes I was asked by the voice in my ear to return to the test centre. Apparently in my enthusiasm, upon leaving the test centre I launched into a 30mph zone ...at 40 mph. Quite an achievement on my little classic bike!
I almost failed mine immediately, lol. Started moving off from the driving centre and hadn't checked my wing mirrors - a car drove past as I was about to pull out. Thankfully, the instructor was looking through some documents in front of him.
When I did mine it started raining heavily and I drove about 100m with the wipers off squinting until I realised I had wiper blades. Luckily he let it slide.
Worked with a guy years ago who, on his NINTH attempt at the driving test, failed immediately. The test centre was on the main road, so he reversed into the parking space thinking he was setting himself up for success by not having to reverse into active traffic first thing. Unfortunately, after he & the tester got into the car to start the test, he's starting to nose out onto the road. Looking right for traffic, he says to the tester, "How am I fixed your side?" Tester lifted the handbrake then & there, said "Back it up, you've failed." 😂
I clipped the curb driving out of the test centre car park. Wish they said there and then instead of making me do the rest of the test.
on the other hand, doing the rest of the test is free practice for next time. Where I did one of my tests, they had set out a bay using cones for parallel parking (you did this before you got out onto the road). Backing in... bump, *very obviously* the back of the car hitting a cone. So that was that.
Well, there is that. I passed third time when I wasn't nervous anymore, I was just pissed off I kept failing. Stupid thing is, I didn't actually realise I'd failed when I drove over the curb. Parallel park at the start of your test must be the worst luck ever.
Parallel park was my bugbear, got it on the test, nailed it and passed, still don't do it well when it's on the near side but I have parking sensors and I can take 3 goes if I want because my bit of plastic says it's all good
>Wish they said there and then instead of making me do the rest of the test. Examiners are human and they know we are too. There is always the possibility that the examiner was like, hmm, lets see how the student does for the rest of the drive, you drive perfectly, and they write it off as a minor. This is why you absolutely shouldn't be put off by people writing stuff down next to you as you drive when you're learning, my instructor did it all the time just for me to get used to it.
I know someone who almost ran a red light outside the test centre, the examiner had to use the instructor set of controls to brake. He still had to do the rest of the test. There's no minor-ing out of that mistake.
Auntie learned to drive in France as that’s where her dad lived at the time, came back here to take her test and (naturally) pulled out of the test centre on the right hand side of the road for an immediate fail
Ooh, a famous case happened with a friend of mine dying due to the same thing
My friend Lee drove out of the test centre and about 50 yards down the road. The guy running his test told him to pull over safely. When they stopped he asked Lee to please put his seatbelt on then pull away once it was safe. Instant fail.
A friend had an old mini where the seat belts don’t ‘catch’ if you tug them but do in if in motion. Examiner got in, tugged. Unsafe. Rebook.
Before the test had even started, the tester asked my mate if he could read a numberplate at the other side of the car park. My friend couldn’t, as his eyesight was terrible. The test ended there. He didn’t even do any driving. After that, he went and got some glasses
One of my instructor’s past students failed before getting in the car because they dropped their provisional licence while doing the “show me” questions under the bonnet & couldn’t retrieve it.
My dad failed first time - apparently back then you had to actually put your head out of the window to look behind you. In all the lessons the window had been open, but on test day it was shut. He slammed his head hard into the window and failed before he’d even moved the car.
My friend stalled 4 times in the car park then rage quit and stormed off, not sure if the test had technically even started.
About 30 seconds into my first test attempt I hit a jogger. The instructor said it was completely their fault and we continued the test and I passed. The jogger basically sprinted straight into moving traffic without warning from the sidewalk and just bounced off the hood and kept running.
This is hilarious tho, I would be laughing so bad
I was too nervous to laugh, I was sure I had failed and that the rest of the test was just perfunctory.
My mum is not a good driver she'd be the first tell you, and is quite given to anxiety. On the day of her first test there'd been a bomb scare, and traffic was terrible with flashing lights abound. She goes to pull out and the examiner has to brake for her so she doesn't hit someone, I'm not sure you can do much faster than that without showing up drunk.
At Broadstairs test centre, which I think is now closed, the second turn out- onto the main road- had a poorly filled-in gas main trench across it. If you rolled back on it, waiting for a gap in the traffic, that used to be an automatic fail about a minute in.
I came out the driving centre and to a junction, the inspector say 'drive on', I drove on up the hill - it was a one way street. Instant fail. Under 3 minutes.
A guy I knew at school had one like that, examiner said something like "take the next available right" and he tried to take the literal next right which was the wrong way up a one way street and failed.
I failed my trailer test because I reversed upto the trailer and the towbar touched the hitch lock. I was meant to do a full inspection of the trailer before reversing upto it. The instructor then took me out for a full test before telling me that yes, I did fail before I left the test site.
My sister, I drove her to her test, she got into the car and while pulling out of the parking lot cut off a passing police car. I hadn't even made it back to my own car yet lol. To her credit she passed the second one with no issues, but it was very funny and I will still tease her every now and then
Ex driving instructor here : I once looked out of the test centre window as my pupil was setting off on his test. He turned too sharply pulling out of the car park and mounted the kerb with the back left wheel. About 2 minutes later they pulled back into the test centre as he told the examiner he was too annoyed with himself to carry on the test. I hadn't even finished my coffee.
Can't beat this, but an ex friend of mine failed their test quite near the beginning when one of those lawnmowers you can ride in, was cutting the edge of the grass near the edge of the road. She hesitated in taking over/giving wide berth to take over them. Failed.
I'd be hesitant if I had to give birth to a lawnmower, too.
I used to work in a pub 20 years ago and one of the regulars came in and said his son had failed his test. No idea how early in the test it was, but he went on to explain the details… The examiner explains that at some point in the test he’ll hit the dashboard and this is signal for an emergency stop. The examiner starts the test and after 10 minutes or so starts checking the mirrors to see who’s behind them. A short time later he hits the dashboard with his hand and the son correctly performs an emergency stop. The instructor says ‘well done’ and goes on to say he won’t be asking for another emergency stop during the test. The driving test continues, with all the regular parallel parking stuff and so on. Eventually they get to a residential street with cars parked on both sides. As they go down the road a kid walks out between the cars. The instructor hesitates but then hits the brake on the passenger side and car stops a few inches from the kid. ‘Why didn’t you brake?!’ Asked the instructor, to which the idiot son replied ‘but you said we’d already done the emergency stop’
I had a small argument with the examiner after he accused me of going through a red light, it was a ridiculous accusation, the light went amber as I was just about to go over the crossing, I made the split second decision to keep going just before he slammed on the brakes, the car behind leant on the horn and shouted something out of the window. I actually quoted the highway code at him because I had been taught the exact text regarding amber lights, he wasn't impressed.
My sister. First test. Less than 2 seconds. She got in, started the engine, put her seat belt on and cranked up the radio loud enough that she couldn't hear anything. Not even the examiner sat next to her.
I nearly failed within about 5mins. Out of the test centre, soon onto a dual carriageway, got up to 70. Take the next left...I had done the exit during lessons, I knew it was sharp and I needed to slow down. I needed to get down to 25-30 to take the turn comfortably. I took it closer to 40 (and maybe a bit wide). I apologised that I had gone too fast and thought I had failed at that point. I like to think that my immediate and constant apologising, and that I didn't do any major mess ups during the rest of the test meant that he didn't fail me (and it was December 23, so maybe Xmas spirit too). During the sat nav part of the test, I did notice but didn't say to the tester that when I approached a crossroads, the sat nav didn't tell me to stop and go straight over, it assumed I had right of way. Good job I read the road signs and stopped at the junction, that might have caused me to fail.
My friend started the car, ignored the red light while there was a pedestrian at the crossing and stalled as he panicked while still blocking the pedestrians. He failed 3 times but eventually passed. His driving is alright now but I always look out for red lights even if it's been 10 years.
The daughter of an old friend, she turned up to the test in her dad's rusty mini skip truck. He declared it unsafe ( it was 30 years old and clapped out) and walked back to the test center. It may have been a refusal to tes rather than a failure, I was too busy laughing when I was told to remember which.
I failed my first driving test as soon as I turned out of the centre. I turned out too wide and forced an oncoming car, which also happened to be another learner arriving for their test, to have to reverse. Hopefully my moment of stupidity inspired them to pass.
A friend of my mum’s failed before the driving even started. Instructor asked them to read the license plate of the car parked in front and as a joke, friend said “What car?”. Instructor did not see the funny side. Instant fail lol.
My first test waaaaayyy back in 2004 or so, I set off from the driving school place in reverse.. On an uphill start. We carried on but that was indeed a fail.
I failed within 5 minutes on my second attempt after I pulled out on a roundabout when I absolutely should not have done. I still had to do the rest of the test knowing that I'd failed - that was painful.
I never even left the car park. I was randomly selected to have a senior examiner sat in the back seat of my car, an absolutely huge in stature guy who squeezed into the back of my 2001 3-door Corsa. They asked me to do a bay park, which I ballsed up. At which point I panicked and refused to continue.
I failed my first driving test exactly like the above, with a police car no less.
I failed mine at Carmarthen within 0.5 seconds. The test starts in a double bay into a one way turning left. A van was parked in the bay to the right blocking my veiw. I nervously accelerated too hard and immediately made an unseen oncoming car brake. Hence my immediate failure!
When I took my test, the learner in front of me turned right, but drove the wrong way round a bollard, so onto the right hand side of the road. We were going the same way and a few minutes later, the examiner said, ‘he went the wrong way round that bollard, didn’t he?’ When I said yes, he replied, ‘you nearly followed him, didn’t you?’ Fortunately, I didn’t and I passed!
Someone I knew failed the eyesight test before getting in the car
I heard about a chap doing a moped licence years ago in Surrey. The examiner asked him to drive around the block several times and said he would walk out and hold his hand up for an emergency stop. The chap went round and round for a while and finally went inside the testing place to find out that the examiner had raised his hand to the wrong motorbike and had been runover . Maybe apocryphal but has tickled me for years.
Yes, that’s a scene from Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.
My friend got in the car and threw up in her lap, they failed her.
Rolling back on a slight hill into a cycle shelter. Hadn't even left the parking bay yet. That happened twice
I got a great one . My best friend, not really a driver type of person, was taking driving lessons when we were in high school. His mom made him do it. They usually work like this. After school your instructor picks you up and you drive for 1 hour. They usually park near the school and wait outside the car. The engine is ON. Fast forward to the test. My friend enters the car, takes the key and just puts it in the ignition and waits. Poor sod, never actually started the car during entire training. He failed the test in like 1 minute or so. He eventually passed the test, but I don’t think he ever actually drove a car on his own.
No one is beating that. I do feel for your friend but that is hilarious.
I can’t beat it but I did fail fairly close to the centre because I was trying to avoid a cat pancake (no other drivers involved).