Beep! Beep! Get out the way, I can drrrrriiiiiivvvvvveeee!!
Four instructors, two expired theory tests, one expired provisional license and I finally managed to pass my practical driving test midst the chaos that was 2020 in an automatic Toyota Yaris. It is the biggest achievement of my life to date and something that I worked so hard towards.
So, let me rewind and tell you all about my driving story from the beginning. Be sure to grab a beverage cause you may be here for a while....
I always wanted to buy a car straight after passing. I wanted to buy the car outright (none of that deposit and then paying off in monthly instalments for me). To do this, I wanted to make sure I had at least £5,000 saved in my bank account. However, I was a bit impatient and booked in some lessons before I had anything saved up. I was also living in Bradford at the time; people always told me to try and learn outside of London as it would be easier, given that there would be less chaotic and angry road users. This was at a time, I was studying for my Postgraduate Degree in Psychology and I was not earning any money. I was also paying off for my braces (roughly £200 monthly instalments) so money was tight and I had to put the brakes on my driving dream.
Fast forward a few years later, I was back in London and was working as a temp through an employment agency. I thought that time was on my side even though money was not. I could have lessons during the week and maybe, just maybe I could pass. However, that was not to be either. I was paired up with an amazing instructor, who made the lessons fun and I really enjoyed my time with him. However, he used to turn up late and sometimes he would even forget lessons were booked so I called up the driving school and asked to have a different instructor. That was the biggest mistake of my driving life.
I was given the rudest instructor. He was a couple of years younger than me and he seemed to be on a power trip. He would be fast to criticise my driving, saying I had wasted my money on the previous instructors. He even said I was not taking my lessons seriously and I asked him what made him say that. He said I should be coming to the lessons with a notepad so I could make notes.....while driving!!!???
Eventually, I cracked. I told him I found him unfair and that I was trying to take everything he was saying on board. He asked me to pull up at the side of a road and told me that he had 'an amazing success rate' and thousands of students passed with him. I told him that he should then realise that everyone is different and some people take longer to learn to which he agreed and then reminded me that he is not doing it for fun but because he is being paid to teach me. I then promptly reminded him that I was paying him so I was well aware of this.
That was the last lesson I had with him. I could go into more details of why he was the biggest asshole instructor in the world of bad driving instructors but then this blog post will turn into a novel.....Anyway, back to the story, I called up the driving school and complained about the instructor once my lesson had finished. I told the man on the phone that I did not like the instructor as a person and there was no way I would be able to continue lessons with him. I had bulk booked lessons so I got a refund on the lessons that did not take place.
My driving career hit the brakes again until a few years later when I got over the trauma and decided to give it another shot.
This would be the last attempt, it would be my last instructor and it would the time I see it through to the end goal of a full driver's license. And seeing that I got nowhere with a manual car, this time, I opted for an automatic.
Whilst Instructor Number 4 did have some patience with me and got me through to the end goal, I cannot say I was 100% satisfied with his teaching. He was always punctual and never forgot when we had a lesson booked BUT he would spend an awful lot of time on the phone (incredibly frustrating!) to someone called Imtiaz Uncle.
I was with Instructor 4 for a while and then we decided to book in a test and then we would have a target date to aim for. Unfortunately coronavirus decided to take the world by storm. my test got postponed and lessons were temporarily cancelled. Stress levels were going through the roof at this point. I was aware that the expiry date on my provisional license was coming up, my theory certificate would expire in a few months. Also I had heard about the theory test being restructured; this was something I knew I wanted to avoid....
Eventually time came for me to have my first driving test. I did not feel ready. The test centres were being very cautious about coronavirus and so they wanted to limit time with candidates during tests. This would mean that if someone failed the test, they would just direct them back to the test centre, where they would deliver the bad news. Ordinarily, students would be allowed to complete the test.
I failed my first test with two majors (uh oh!). I had failed about 40 minutes into the test so I was in denial when I was being redirected to the test centre. I was telling myself that we would be doing bay parking in the test centre and so as I was trying to get myself into position for this (without actually being instructed to), the examiner said 'okay, that's all. Am sorry to say you have not passed your test on this occasion. But please do continue to your lessons and we hope to be able to pass you again soon'.
I was highly stressed as test booking a test became so sought after amongst all the students. I was sent a results email which stated the time and date from which I would be able to book another test. And I was on it like a car bonnet. I was online 15 minutes before the queuing had begun and by the time it was open, I was about 6000th in line. I reminded myself 6000th position isn't so bad, given that this would be taking into account all the test centres in the whole country. I logged in with my laptop, phone and a private browser. There was no way that I would be missing out booking my second test. And it worked; I was able to book myself in for 23rd October 2020.
Given how unpredictable things had become with my driving lessons, I found refuge in YouTube driving videos. And there are so many of them. I watched countless videos- some of them were lessons, some mock tests, some actual tests (without sound for data protection issues). I even bought the ultimate driving course by Pin Binning of the DGN Driving channel on YouTube. I followed the instructors on Instagram, some followed me back. I left lots of comments on all the videos, sometimes I would rewatch the video and write a new comment the following day. All the instructors were incredibly helpful and they all got back to me with all my questions.
A week or so before my second driving test, one YouTube driving instructor messaged me, asking if I would like to do a mock test. I happily took him up on the offer. That was the best decision ever. His car was an automatic 2015 Toyota Yaris. We had 1.5hours together. An hour of that was a mock test and half an hour of that was feedback. I found this incredibly helpful. The day before my test, he messaged to wish me good luck and he said to eat bananas before my test.
On the day of the test, I ate well (and yes, I did eat a banana), I drank plenty of water, and I made sure I slept well the night before. This time, I felt more confident. I had a few people trying to manage my expectations, telling me not to be upset if I failed on the second attempt as average car drivers pass on the third go. But I was secretly quite confident. This would be my turn.
The examiner for my second test was a man who had a very warm, gentle approach and immediately, I felt at ease (not the case for Test 1). He did an eye test on me and then we went into the car. The tell me question he asked was how would I know if there was something wrong with the ABS, which I answered and off we went on my test.
During the test, he asked me to turn on the rear wiper washer, which I had to do twice as the water didn't come out the first time. I was asked to follow road signs. Asked to pull up a few times and then for the manoeuvre, I was asked to do a forward bay park. Bay parking used to cause me major anxiety, so my method was to just do good enough and the readjust the car and make sure I was in the bay. Once I had completed the manoeuvre, he directed me back to the test centre.
I passed. I passed with three minors. He said my faults were (1) there was a van with door open ahead of me and I was slow in case anyone was around but once the door was closed, I didn't pick up speed and this caused delay to the driver behind, (2) when I was readjusting the car during the bay parking, I moved the car before checking the mirror and (3) whilst on the road, at one point I went over the white line and as it was raining really hard and my vision was blurred cause of that he excused that and wrote it off as a minor.
It was the best moment. I immediately took a picture of the certificate and sent it to my mum, sister and any friends who were also invested in my driving journey. A week later, I bought my car, that in itself needs another blog post. I feel so much joy and relief to know that I will never have to have another driving lesson ever; I just need to make sure I do not get 6 points on my license within the first two years or else I could lose it all and have to redo the theory and practical all over again.....! Noooooo!!
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