Hi, I have started my driving lessons :) better late then never, only had four so far, but i am enjoying it.
Had a bad one today though, was a little keen with the steering wheel going round a corner and mounted the curb!! oops

Has any of you got any driving lesson/test nightmares that you look back on and laugh at? would love to hear them as it will make me feel a little bit better :) lol

I took my first 3 tests in the town of my birth and i knew it like the back of my hand .
My instructor was my next-door neighbour and was very annoyed with the tester when i failed the 3rd as i was a very competent driver ,but a young looking female  .
I then moved to a large town  that i didn't know . I had a car so drove a lot with my bf in the passenger seat . I even drove to London from up North on the A roads !
When i finally got the nerve to take my test again in this new town , which tester walked out of the office ? - one who had previously failed me in the other town !
I did half of the test and could feel that we were going back to the test centre so i was convinced that i had failed again . He asked me one question when we got back , then said that i had passed !!!
It was so great to be free to go wherever and whenever  i wanted  !

My advice would to be to drive as much as possible with a suitable passenger as this will give you loads of confidence .  Good luck !

Well done you for starting - definitely better late than never, and its good you're enjoying it! I cant imagine being without a car, I take it for granted now really, when I was little I used to cycle everywhere.

I dont think I had any particularly bad times, but the first time I drove a car was with my Dad, and he told me to "BRAKE", and as I did I slammed my foot so hard on the brake that his head touched the windscreen! Luckily he was ok!

Has any of you got any driving lesson/test nightmares that you look back on and laugh at?

Ha, where do i begin....taking out a whole line of traffic cones when on my first driving lesson; Failing my test twice - once for driving through a red light :-) oops; constantly getting myself into tight spots because "i was a sheep" as my driving instructor said and just followed other road users; nearly hitting a brick wall because i went straight on at a junction that you could only turn left or right. My instructor had always said go straight on unless he said other wise so thats what i did:-); hitting curbs; driving too fast;driving too slow....shall i continue??!!

I really wasnt made for driving - some people take it to it a lot more naturally than others and for me it was a constant struggle. When i went for my 3rd test i said if i didnt pass i was going to buy myself a mobility scotter and use that to drive myself around!!

You are bound to have good and bad lessons and it more than likely you will fail your first test - a LOT of people do, even the good drivers. It was the single most terrifying experiance of my life and nerves got the better of me. It all depends on the weather, the amount of traffic and how kind and considerate the other road users are.
But GOOD LUCK!! once you've done it you will be so proud and will absolutely love your independance

Well...I learned to drive and passed my test very quickly. :)
I was living in Alderney a very small (1 1/2 x 3miles) island, no traffic lights,dual carraigeways, not even a roundabout.
Soon after  moved to the mainland, and as I was the only licensed driver in my new job had to drive company car too and from a training course that a few of us had to attend. 
Scary...for all of us.
It was many years ago........
Karen

> Has any of you got any driving lesson/test nightmares that you look back on and laugh at? would love to hear them as it will make me feel a little bit better :-) lol

This should make you feel better I had to take my driving test 5 times before I passed!!! Argh!!! Could have given up so many times but I'm glad I stuck with it now! Good luck Dexter! ;)

I failed my first test many years ago when I was 18. 

My driving was ok but as soon as I met the tester I felt so un-comfortable with him that I was a bag of nerves.  He was just like a retired sergeant major (and probably was one), full tweed suit, red face and one of those moustashes that curls into spirals at the end. 

Everything he said to me was 'barked' out like an order which made me more and more stressed. 

About half way through he told me to do a left turn and I was so stressed and flustered at this point that I mistook a no stopping sign for a no entry sign and thinking he was trying to trick me I slammed on the breaks.  The poor man hit his head on the dashboard (not hard) and went beetroot with rage.  I couldn't wait for it to be over (probably neither could he).

Second time round I had a really nice tester and I was relaxed and passed easily.

Amongst folk learning to drive in my home town a particular tester was known to fail young folk. He had a brown eye and a green eye but I can't remember his name. lol Anyway I didn't get him for my first test but still failed for not getting up to speed, I did get him for my second test and he made me really nervous. I sat my test when the schools were coming out so the town was really busy but I was concentrating hard where the kids were crossing, so hard in fact that I never notice the 'lollipop man' in the middle of the road and drove straight past him!! I only saw him when I checked my mirror as I slowed down at the junction! Ooops!

I passed 3 time round though, had a really nice tester who chatted and put me at ease, plus the day I sat my test was a local holiday and there was a bit less traffic to put up with. I loved driving but then when my OH passed his test he started driving all the time and I lost my nerve and had to make a real effort to get back behind the wheel again.

Anyone watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?  My first driving examiner was exactly like the child catcher in the CCBB film. He had the long nose and evil look in his eyes - i half expected im to put his child catching net in the boot when he took me out to my car :-)  No wonder i failed with him sat beside me!!

> Ha, where do i begin....taking out a whole line of traffic cones when on my first driving lesson; Failing my test twice - once for driving through a red light :-) oops; constantly getting myself into tight spots because "i was a sheep" as my driving instructor said and just followed other road users; nearly hitting a brick wall because i went straight on at a junction that you could only turn left or right. My instructor had always said go straight on unless he said other wise so thats what i did:-); hitting curbs; driving too fast;driving too slow....shall i continue??!!
>

PMSL thats well funny, sorry, but that really cheered me up today!! LOL only thing i have ever done is i was driving and wondered what would happen if i pressed the brake with my left foot, so i did and we slammed to a halt and the car stalled! Was funny looking back though!! Cant think of anything else now, ran a few red lights i guess and come close to clipping other cars, but thats about it...

> About half way through he told me to do a left turn and I was so stressed and flustered at this point that I mistook a no stopping sign for a no entry sign and thinking he was trying to trick me I slammed on the breaks.  The poor man hit his head on the dashboard (not hard) and went beetroot with rage.  I couldn't wait for it to be over (probably neither could he).

LOL can just imagine that!! LOL

Good luck with your lessons though, i am sure you will be just fine and its such a fun experience learning to drive and i agree, i would try get out as much as you can with somebody if possible as the extra lessons do help :)

I passed first time yet not sure how as at a roundabout on an uphill i rolled backwards when trying to accelerate away. I apologised.
My parallel parking i clipped the kurb, i asked to do it again, was told to correct myself and leave it at that.

When i was learning i always had a very heavy lead foot and was always told off for going over the speed limit. I wasn't afraid, just very eager.

Anyway i did pass first time, i was told though that each examiner has to fail a certain number of people a day(how true is that i don't know) and if you were one of the first ones of the day you had a better chance of passing than going towards the end of the day..
My test was at 09.00 and the first one for this examiner.

It took me 4 times before i passed my driving test was an . I okay driver till it came to test time and i would go to pieces, dont drive any more now though . just a confidence thing with me. i only drive autos tho

Thanks guys, i feel so much better now :p good to know most people have been in the same boat :) LOL

>Anyway i did pass first time, i was told though that each examiner has to fail a certain number of people a day(how true is that i don't know) and if you were one of the first ones of the day you had a better chance of passing than going towards the end of the day..

I had heard similar theories but dismissed them as rubbish until I failed my driving test when I was 17!  Entirely by coincidence, my friend and I took our driving tests on the same day, with the same examiner.  We hadn't told anyone when our test dates were so it was a surprise when I saw her driving out of the test centre as I drove in.  Anyway, I failed due to 'undue' hesitation at a roundabout, apparently.  When I got home and rang my friend, she had failed for the same thing on the same roundlabout! And when we compared our test sheets (then one where they mark all your faults on them), mine looked like a photocopy of her one   Our instructors advised us to appeal but, being 17 and lacking in confidence, we just wanted to let it drop and move on.  A few years later  heard that the examiner in question had been advised to take early retirement as there were an awful lot of appeals and complaints stacking up against him.  Incidentally, the same examiner had passed my Mum about 15 years earlier even though she reversed out into the middle of the road instead of around the corner!!  She's been driving for nearly arounf 30 years now and is still the worst driver I know!

I didn't get around to taking my test again til a few years ago (12 or so years after the first failed attempt) but it all went very well thanks to a wonderful driving instructor sho sussed very quickly that confidence was my problem more so than driving ability.  The only horror moment I had was when we were sitting in the test centre waiting for me to be called and he was telling me that I was lucky because a certain female examiner who was famous for being extremely harsh had recently moved to a different test centre.  Seconds later, 2 female examiners emerged from the office area...just my luck that it was holiday time and dragon lady was standing in for someone who was off on holiday   I have to say that I found her absolutely lovely...well I would as she passed me!  :-D Even after I touched the kerb when reversing round the corner!!

A couple of friends have absolutely cracking horror stories from their driving tests...for instance, the one that, when asked to do an emergency stop, panicked, forgot what he was supposed to do and pulled on the handbrake   Or the one that reversed into a milk float.  Not forgetting the one that accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the break when reversing around a corner and parked the car with amazing accuracy in someone's garden hedge :-D 

> A couple of friends have absolutely cracking horror stories from their driving tests...for instance, the one that, when asked to do an emergency stop, panicked, forgot what he was supposed to do and pulled on the handbrake <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif">&nbsp; Or the one that reversed into a milk float.&nbsp; Not forgetting the one that accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the break when reversing around a corner and parked the car with amazing accuracy in someone's garden hedge

LOL :) these made me chuckle