Why did you fail your driving test?

lincroft1710

force_ten wrote: »

i had two lessons that cost £3.50 per lesson to give an idea of how long ago this was

When I started learning to drive lessons were £1 each!

Car_54

lincroft1710 wrote: »

When I started learning to drive lessons were £1 each!

Mine were also £1, or 15 shillings (75p) if you used your own car! That was in 1967.

lincroft1710

Car_54 wrote: »

Mine were also £1, or 15 shillings (75p) if you used your own car! That was in 1967.

Same year, but i don't remember if any local driving schools did reduced rate for own car

room512

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

I failed in December 1974.


The main reason was that it was Friday the 13th.


Other reasons were:


My instructor changed his car the week before. It was still a mini but the pedals were much stiffer and the whole car felt 'different'.


I didn't have enough experience.


My instructor told me I didn't need any more lessons just practice. I never had another lesson just hours of practice in my own car accompanied by my father. I passed second time.

I passed on Friday 13th! My friend had an appointment for the test on the same day bit changed it as she thought it was bad luck.

SensibleSarah

Failed 4 tests in the 90s as I got so incredibly nervous in tests that I'd just make stupid mistakes - all of them on manoeuvres. Hitting the kerb on reverse round corner etc. Didn't take a lesson again until 2013. Passed with 3 minors after a few refresher lessons. Still got really nervous mind, but was better equipped to deal with it in my 30s than I was in my late teens!

Iceweasel

Car_54 wrote: »

Mine were also £1, or 15 shillings (75p) if you used your own car! That was in 1967.

Mine cost about that too - but even earlier in 1965/66- when I paid a £5er for 6 lessons in my dad's car.

oldhand

Wife failed her test as she almost knocked a man down,she complained to the examiner "But he just jumped in front of me"
Examiner replied "yes madam but it was his own front garden"..:D

diamond_dave

Don't know how true this is but my Dad always told the story about a guy taking his test on a motor bike. The examiner would wait on the pavement and step out in order to get the rider to do the emergency stop.Yes, you've guessed it - one day the examiner stepped out right in front of the wrong bike!! This was sometime in the '50s.

Ectophile

Another one failing for not taking professional driving lessons. You may have a relative who's an experienced driver, but that doesn't mean that they can teach you to drive in the way the examiner wants you to.

So I failed on lots of minor things - they only let you get away with a few per test.

Six proper lessons later, and I passed.

esuhl

On my first test, I got three minor marks (and hence a fail) for hesitancy! Of all things! I thought I was being sensibly cautious.

I think the reason that I was hesitant was that I was using my instructors car, yet I was more used to driving my own. So, I'd find it harder to find the "bite point", and repeatedly put my hand on the examiner's knee when reaching for the gear stick. Oops.

My second test lasted for well over an hour, as it was inexplicably busy and there was nowhere to safely perform an "emergency stop".

I got back, and my instructor was frantic, assuming that I'd crashed the car!

The one thing that really threw me was when the examiner tested my knowledge of road signs. (This was before the written test.) He showed me a "stop" sign with the word "STOP" clearly printed across it and asked me what it meant. My brain froze. I thought, "I can't just say 'stop' -- that's too obvious!"... so I rambled on about how unusual an octagonal sign was and that there would be a solid white line instead of give-way markings, and rambled on for a good minute, before the examiner burst into laughter and said, "It's okay! You passed!".