r/LearnerDriverUK

Yes, England are playing in the wee small hours this morning.

If you're planning on driving/going for test tomorrow *IT IS SAFER TO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL AT ALL*.

If you turn up smelling like a brewery we *WILL* turn you away and we'll have absolutely no hesitation in reporting you to the police if we suspect at all you'll be driving.

The DVSA recommends leaving the following time after drinking alcohol: 1 hour per unit drunk, starting from the time you finish drinking (so 6 normal strength pints, finished at 23:00hrs would mean no driving until at least 13:30hrs the next day).

Best of luck for everyone testing tomorrow.

I just had my second to last lesson before my test of Tuesday and it went awful. I mean i did everything wrong and my instructor said he’s not worried but he’s nervous now how my lesson went. I took wrong exits, turned left when I should have turned right, didn’t check my mirrors enough. He said my attitude seems to have changed, like I’ve just accepted my fate of a fail and given up trying.

I’ve come home just cried my eyes out. I’m still crying. I’ve tried so hard leading up to this point I just don’t understand how it all went wrong today.

We're not moving the date back *yet* and instead going to double down on lessons but this was my first mock test & everything just fell apart. I ended up failing in the first minute at a Zebra crossing and having really silly mistakes with speed on approach & normal driving position that I normally don't have. I felt really anxious and not at ease. There were some positives but it felt like it all just went down hill.

We both aren't thinking moving the test back yet but maybe we decide to next week. Has anybody also had a mock test go poorly shortly before a test?

I had my theory test on Friday. I got 46 out of 50 on the main test. Only 31 on hazard perception so I failed.

On one of the clips I accidentally held the mouse a bit too hard and it thought I clicked 4 times so I got 0.

The other clips I'm guessing I clicked too early or too late.

It's incredibly frustrating. My test was 5pm so I was the last one to finish. In the room behind me the two people that worked there started chatting and while they didn't distract me I thought that was incredibly unfair. I get that they just wanted to go home but anyone sitting their rest isn't allowed to make a sound so why should they?

It's disheartening having to rebook, I was so hoping to pass so I could book my practical 😭

Hi everyone,

I'm 35 and want to learn to drive a manual car. I know I'm a bit late, but I never really felt the need to learn because I live in London, where the public transport is fantastic.

My question is: roughly how much do you think I should expect to spend on driving lessons? I know it varies from person to person depending on how quickly you learn, but I'd like to get a rough idea of the overall cost. I've never had any lessons before, and a driving instructor who was recommended to me charges £35 an hour.

Also, how many lessons a week would you recommend?

I have just completed my theory test and am looking to pass my practical ideally before mid-September (before uni starts and I’ll be quite busy).

My parents are saying I should get a practical booking before starting to learn to not cause unnecessary extra refreshment lessons etc. if my booking turns out to be very late.

So should I look for a cancellation to get a driving test late summer before starting to learn it within 2-3 months intensively or should I just start now and hope that I will get a test for late summer while looking.

I live in St Albans area if that helps.

I am 25yrs (F) and recently passed my Driving test, i have been driving for years now so I have like 4 years of driving experience (under supervision) but was just lazy with fighting for cancellations and test dates. But this year was the year I decided to actually go for the tests. I failed the first one due to just going to a new area tbh and winging it. Then the second one I practiced in the area, I booked the test, and passed.

I say all this to ask and say. Well I got a nicer car for my first car, an Audi a1, and it is a newer plate but I’m scared to put P plates on and make myself a target in a way. But I also understand it’s the safer thing to do so people are aware.

For the more experienced drivers, how do you feel or act towards people on the roads with a P on a newer/nicer car?

Is it advised for me to apply these to my car?

All feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you :)

* I’ve been driving around simce passing and thankfully GTG haven’t experienced anything that made me think oo if only I had P plates on but it is still early days. I just want to feel safe and don’t want anyone bullying me on the roads

Does anyone know how long it takes for your driving license to arrive after sending off a d1 form. I sent off my provisional and pass certificate the day i passed, i would want the pass certificate back but i have no hope for that.
I need it as a form of ID in 2 weeks and my passport is gone for renewal

I have no motivation to use the dvsa theory test app on my cellphone. In Canada for my theory test I had an app that just quizzed you multiple answer questions over and over and that's how I learned and passed the test (along with reading some of the outdated official book). I didn't mind the Canadian app at all because I didn't have to study little text on a little phone screen. It was easy peasy.

The dvsa app is long winded text sections, boring and I find myself not enjoying reading text on my phone screen at all. I don't like the hazard perception test either, I find it unfair to try to figure out the best time to flag the hazard. I see it long before I click but if I don't click at the time they think is most right, I get no points. It made me appreciate the simplicity of the Canadian theory test format even more...

Anyways I tried to see if I could get the app on my computer screen or tablet to make the text more bearable to read and I wasn't able to.

Would ordering the books be better or should I get a more engaging app maybe one with less little boring paragraph text to read? Is the James may any better?

So I always thought test day hire would be cheap for everyone, I paid £35 to use my instructor’s car for an hour and passed my test, if I had done a warmup lesson before that it would have been £70 altogether but I’ve heard people getting charged £300 for test day which is absolutely absurd I think.

Can I get insight from an instructor - why charge that much for a learner who might be tight on money or just in general? - if anything it increases the pressure to pass and can lead to the student making more mistakes during the test.

Why can’t you just charge the same amount you would for a 2hour lesson? Not judging or criticising I’m just genuinely curious. Thanks

I'm really sorry if this is not the place for this but I don't really know what to do

So I (19F) recently started driving again with a new instructor with my test coming up next month. My instructor is an older guy (60s-70sM) who in the past has made some weird comments but I've just brushed them off due to him being older. These went along the lines of "I really like our lessons" "I'm going to miss you tomorrow" (I had changed my lesson to a day earlier due to being busy on the normal day) "We can carry on talking I like having a pretty lady in my car"

I had another lesson with him where I got a bit flustered whilst doing a parallel park as a car came up right behind me causing me to not complete the manoeuvre. I pulled into a spot further up the road as I was instructed to do. He then took my hand and started holding it. I blanked everything that he said to me and kept my hand open flat as I froze and felt I couldn't move. After this had happened I carried on driving back home as it was the end of my lesson. On the fly I started talking and said I had a boyfriend which I made up hoping to get him to back off. This did at the moment where he then just was silent. During this he got a phone call and started looking at his phone. Once getting back home I scheduled my next lesson which he then said about another girl he's driving and if she finishes early it will mean he gets more time with me.

I honestly am shocked and don't know what to do. I am so close to my test that finding a new instructor is near impossible. It's been suggested to me to report him but again I don't want to screw up my chances of my test. Since this happening I have looked at the driving school I am with which has no reviews about him anywhere and no posts about him on their Facebook page (the other instructors have reviews and posts) I'm thinking that this behaviour might be the reason why. He is due to retire at the end of the year so I'm not sure reporting it will do any good. I just feel like I'm spending so much money to be treated in such an inappropriate way.

So, I have a question that is for the future when I pass my test because I have no clue how to go about it.

Simply put; how would I go about buying a car? Is there specific places or websites that I could go? I don't want or need anything specific or super expensive, I just want something that gets me to A to B and won't explode on me.

Hi everyone,

As the title says, my test is on Thursday. I’m confident with driving, that isn’t a problem. I really struggle with parking so much. My instructor said I need to not worry about it so much because it’s one part of the test and will only last a couple of minutes but I’m so anxious about it. I don’t want to fail because of this and I easily could.

I go back and forth between being super nervous, somewhat excited/confident and then feeling this sickly dread feeling. Idek the point of this post lol, I’m just rambling.

I’m going to spend tomorrow and the days leading up to the test making notes on driving and really trying to memorise tips and tricks. I think what’s getting me in more of a tizzy is the fact that my instructor changed his car 2 weeks ago and it’s much higher up so I’m having to get used to it and there’s just a lot going on.

Any advice is welcome, sorry for rambling on.