Can I complain about Daughter's Driving Test?

Inactive

beachbeth wrote: »

She did and they said they had no record of it and her examiner cut her short when she tried to explain and said "my instructions are clear!"

Were you actually in the car at the time?

Would you be whinging if your Daughter had passed?

Just get her sorted with more lessons that she obviously needs and stop trying to lay the blame for her failure at the examiners door, they simply assess driving standards, period.

beachbeth

MX5huggy wrote: »

As I understand it you won't fail a test for not following the instructions. ie if they say turn left and you MSM correctly right you don't fail. Its the examiners job to get you back on the route.

What is the obsession with doing the test routes, your not going to stick to one area of town when you pass are you? Just drive alot so you kown how to deal with most situations about 12000 miles worked for me.

Im just saying that her special needs means she needs her instructions given earlier than you would someone else - they have provision for this and my gripe is that she wasn't given this provision.

Also, the area that she has her lessons in is an area that we never go so when she drives in our own car we are driving on completely different roads to those in her lessons and test. She has driven to other areas too that she doesn't know very well and in all driving conditions.

lincroft1710 wrote:

Just hope she doesn't come across any "No Left/Right Turn" signs in words and without symbols. Many years ago a former colleague tried to remember the difference using the fact she was right handed, I think it worked!

It isn't the written word she has trouble with, its the spoken word.

Everyone on this thread seems to be basically saying that they shouldn't take anyone's special needs into account at the DSA. So, someone with dyslexia or someone in a wheelchair shouldn't be given any different treatment? Im not saying they should be more lenient to these people in order for them to pass, Im saying that they need help in specific areas that have nothing to do with their driving ability. This is the same as my daughter. She had a statement of special need at school and had some one-to-one teaching because of her difficulties too. However, according to everyone on here she shouldn't have any extra help with her difficulties when it comes to driving.

She simply needs her instructions given earlier than the next person and for left and right to be made clear. We booked her test as a special needs person and this was ignored or the info wasn't passed on and so she found it difficult to follow the instructions given. Even when she tried to explain this at the Test Centre and to her Examiner they weren't interested and no effort was made to see if a mistake had been made.

MX5huggy

Lets get to the facts ... http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/PracticalTest/DG_4022542

No mention of any extra help giving instrustions early to help candidates process them.

Put it down to experience and take your daughter on some mistery drives so that she can improve speed of processing left and right.

Inactive

Of course the real problem is, the OP was not present throughout the test, so has no first hand experience of what happened during the test.

Driving Examiners are carefully selected, highly trained and regularly monitored, they have no incentive to make life difficult for any test candidate.

Had she have passed, I doubt that this thread would exist.

espresso

Inactive wrote: »

Of course the real problem is, the OP was not present throughout the test, so has no first hand experience of what happened during the test.

Does the OP actually have a licence?

beachbeth

espresso wrote: »

Does the OP actually have a licence?

I have been driving for 23 years and I know that my daughter is a better driver than a lot of people I know that passed their tests first time. My OH, who has been driving a bit longer than me agrees and he has never had an accident on his bike or in his car (touch wood!) Neither have I come to that!

For those of you who don't have a disability such as dyslexia then you don't understand how difficult these conditions can make things. In a way, my daughter is safer on the road than a dyslexic because its the spoken word she has problems with, whereas surely a dyslexic has trouble reading road signs?

I think everyone on here has decided that its just sour grapes on my part because she failed her test. Well, the DSA agreed on the phone that something went wrong on her test day which is why they are looking into it for me to see why she wasn't treated as a special needs.

espresso

You have been asked before if your daughter had explained to the examiner that she did not understand her directions. This communication problem could have been resolved in the first couple of minutes of the test, if she had spoken up. As she didn't, she failed, end of move on!

beachbeth

espresso wrote: »

You have been asked before if your daughter had explained to the examiner that she did not understand her directions. This communication problem could have been resolved in the first couple of minutes of the test, if she had spoken up. As she didn't, she failed, end of move on!

Look at my post, number 40. She told them on arrival at the test centre and they said they had no record of it (even though the DSA has a record of it) and when she then tried to explain to the examiner that she was special needs the examiner didn't want to know. It was like making someone who needs glasses drive without them.

Her driving instructor told us that everyone is given their directions about 30 yards from junctions/roundabouts in driving tests and when they have a special needs person they are given the instructions 60 yards away. Kathryn wasn't given this and so it was a waste of £59. This is why I think we should be refunded because someone somewhere made an error, whether it was the DSA or the test centre.

jackieb

Some examiners don't even explain things well to people with no special needs. I had a dour man for my test. He asked me to pull into the left and stop the car. As I was coming up to an opening I asked if I should stop before or after the opening. His reply was, 'pull into the left and stop the car'. He was like a robot. It was like I hadn't even asked a question!

I passed first time, but he really was a soor ploom! Never smiled once either, not even when he told me i'd passed.

katiekittykat

Please don't think i am being rude but i really don't understand what special needs your dd has? can she just not tell left from right?

I had several tests until i passed, on some of those i wasn't told which was to go until virtually the very last minute or given instructions for reverse or pulling over to the left til the very last minute - although they weren't the reasons why i failed!

I suffered with severe nerves to the point where my legs were numb, i was shaking, felt sick - as soon as i got in the car for my test i totally forgot everything i had been taught, and because of this i had to sit NINE driving tests and finally passed on the 9th one, i wasn't treated any differently from any other person taking their test and i don't think i should of been.

I have now been driving for 2 years with no problems.