r/LearnerDriverUK

He told me he’d be 10 mins late, arrived 15 mins but still counted it as 10. They came from being off all day & and from home which fairly close to me🥲.

I said it’s been a few years since I’ve driven a manual (only authorised to drive automatic) and so not comfortable on a main road - we arranged this a week ago and that they’d come pick me up - I assumed we’d be driving in our local area. We did not. We went to quieter roads that was allegedly 30 mins out.

We drove 45 mins instead out, and they took a few weird turns which increased our journey.

Then he ended it 5 - 10 mins early because they needed to go meet someone else.

Is this normal? I wish they had told me the quieter roads were further away , could’ve just met there since we arranged it early enough.

I feel shortchanged 😔

At this rate , I’ll need to double the hours I thought I needed before even thinking about passing a test

I passed my test last Wednesday (yay!) and handed in my provisional license. Im still currently waiting for my new full license to be posted to me. Anyone know how long it usually takes please? Is it actually up to 3 weeks? As I want to get my car asap 😩 thanks all!!

Like how many hours do u think would be best to progress quickly and also become a good driver

Booked my test last month for December.

Was scared bc ofc the weather could be bad.

I kept looking since then for any slots and today found a slot for 15 September. Clicked on it and it says that the slot has already been gone.

Checked again after deleting history from Google and chrome and now I had a test for 3 December. When my real test was on the 16 December.

Checked again after looking for slots after deleting history and now I've got one for 15 September.

KEEP LOOKING.

Hi All,

I just want some advice on how to handle this situation. I have a test in 5 days, yesterday they told me, they refuse to lend me their car to take the test. They have done this before and it was past the cancellation period last year. At the time I thought, fair enough since I felt I needed to learn more as I was getting 5 + majors. However this time, I felt like it was unfair especially given how close it is to the test date. I have had lessons with them for almost 2 years and paid them a lot of money. I have maybe gotten 1 to 2 majors on mock tests. But I managed to fix these as mock tests went on. They said I can drive forward well. They based this decision purely on bay parking and that I was squint.

When I did park the car they would make me doubt myself e.g. “is this correct” and “I’m not saying anything”. Then say I did it well the first time which would continue for the rest of the hour. Then, they would say my car is not straight enough inside the bay. Even when all my tires are inside the lines (they would ask me to open the door and tell me if it’s touching or on the lines and they weren’t) I said they can check for themselves if they are. They said I could fail for parking squint within the lines. My confidence went down a lot. Then I started making stupid mistakes with parking afterwards due feeling so confused. I just felt close to breaking down - they have made me feel like this multiple times and I have dreaded driving. But I still carried on thinking I just need to keep trying and get better. Moreover, we hadn’t practiced bay parking a lot mostly parallel- which I can execute very well.

It’s too late for me to book a hire car or have someone with me. They are not a bad person . I have tried my best to learn well but I feel so drained and defeated. But any advice would be helpful.

I have been taking lessons probably hundreds and hundreds of hours since before covid, but I don't feel any closer to passing. I feel like every instructor I've had is taking me for a ride (literally), and each lesson we're covering the same stuff like traffic lights, junctions, emerging, meeting traffic. I have not even done roundabouts or dual carriageways yet. To those of you who have passed, how did you ensure you progressed forward with the "syllabus"? It feels like I'm going to have to start turning up to each lesson and tell the instructor exactly what I want to do. I thought that they were supposed to be teaching me, not me telling them what to teach me so that I can actually make progress.The thing is as well, I am pretty good at everything that we have already covered and I do not feel like I'm being challenged with anything different. Does anyone have any tips for this situation so that I can actually make progress and pass this damn test?? It feels like my instructors are just rinsing me for money.

Failed today from a stupid error from myself (pedestrian walked out into junction I was pulling into and I didn’t stop fast enough.) Apart from that the drive went pretty much perfect so I’m feeling honestly pretty devastated.

My question is, how bad is rebooking a test actually going to be? It took me around 2 months to book my test for today (booked in March) which I’m aware isn’t bad going. I’m moving away in around 7 months, will be skint and back to working full time, and I’m honestly considering packing it in for now. I currently can’t see any test dates whatsoever as expected but I can’t afford to be booking 8 months in advance.

It’s really frustrating for me at the moment as I can drive, obviously made a stupid mistake today but I’m losing hope tbh that I’m going to get through my test this year.

Hello. I turn 19 soon and have no driving experience. My dad, who has been driving for about twice my lifetime (in a different country), wants me to learn driving. All good, I want to learn too. However we differ on the way in which I should learn. He thinks I should purchase a car and augment personal practice with lessons from an instructor. This is because this is what he's , and according to him, a lot of people at his place of work have done the same. However I don't agree with him fully. I (and mum) think that I should start paying for an instructor initially, and then once I'm more confident and have more experience driving (and I know what I like to drive), then I should make the car purchase.

I can tell he is very unhappy with this stance, as he thinks I will be wasting money. He believes that any savings gained from not paying an insurance premium and fuel and tax will be eaten up by an instructor, and from my perspective it looks like he doesn't want to accept my compromise, but is reluctantly doing so. Initially I wanted no car purchase until I passed my test, but upon hearing his reasoning I revised my reasoning to current one I have, which is letme do some lessons and then I'll buy one to practice. I have about £2k in savings and want to save up a bit more for a decent shitbox, and don't want to ask parents for money as they're putting older brother through university (on international student fees).

What do you think?

It’s been a year since I passed my test and been driving on my own and I still haven’t been on the motorway. I travel out of town a lot and because of anxiety I end up taking public transport. I’ve spoken to my family and friends about it and they tell me just do it it’s not that bad but it gives me more anxiety. What should I do, should I just ripe off the bandaid and just go on the motorway?

Passed today first try after nearly 2 years and overcoming a lotttttt of driving anxiety!! I am just wondering how long it usually takes to get my full license as I will be on holiday next week so if it comes while I’m away then I won’t be in to collect it and wouldn’t want it to get lost or stolen

Test was going all fine. Pulled up on a hill to do the hill start. Asked the examiner if it was ok for me to undo and redo my seatbelt as it was super tight. When I did so, the seatbelt wouldn’t come out from the side wall, it was completely stuck. Apparently you need to be on the flat for it to work again but obviously the examiner wouldn’t let me drive the car without a seatbelt. Had to terminate the test there. Asked him and he said I had 3 minors.

I’m so incredibly frustrated and upset. There’s not another test until November, my instructor is paying at least.

I had so many nerves going into this and I felt it was going well. Plus I had to use annual leave from work to take the test today and will have to see if my manager is ok with me leaving midday on a Monday.

FML.

So I'm pretty confident with parallel parking except for when there's other cars around. I failed before for doing the maneuver as a car was coming towards me, but I was halfway through the park and he was clearly letting me finish. I have my test soon and I'm just panicking about this, as with my instructor there's been cars behind us as I'm doing the manuever and she's told me to carry on and let them wait. What is the correct way to deal with this? If I'm already parking and a car comes what do I do? Obviously I won't start if there's cars behind me but I'm just getting myself confused about this. Help appreciated :)