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Reply 40
Original post by tonberry
Yeah exactly. Some people are like 18 or 19 and have done 50 lessons and had 5 tests or whatever. Maybe it's harder for me to grasp since I moved out when I was like 17 but I still don't think even not having rent/bills/food etc would help enough to let you be able to afford all those lessons and tests without 'the bank of mom and pop' as you put it :p:


yeah....i mean when i was in school i prioritised my education so didnt work more than a max of 10 hours a week, which is like £50 quid max. considering driving lessons for 2 hours each are £50 quid, how would you afford it and have money to buy books and stuff?

i've said to my younger sis, dont bother learning to drive until a) you need to or b) you have a full time job and can afford lessons and a decent car - whichever comes first

i mean i posted on here ages ago a thread about taking out loans to buy cars - when you are 18, how can you afford to pay off a commercial rates loan on a car? but everyone posted "no i work for my money and have just bought a £12,000 car, no loans for me :smile:"

some people even had like £25,000 cars. now im a higher rate taxpayer but i fdont have that kind of money saved up so i dont see how any schoolkids would do! unless they include money 'gifted' to them from mom and pop
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 41
im giving this thread a bump as i've seen a few posts now about people who just want to give up. i've been driving for three months now, i got a car after one month. its an incredible experience, boring at times but overall it is will worth to keep on trying until you pass that test.

good luck - it CAN be done!!
Reply 42
Original post by mosmof
im giving this thread a bump as i've seen a few posts now about people who just want to give up. i've been driving for three months now, i got a car after one month. its an incredible experience, boring at times but overall it is will worth to keep on trying until you pass that test.

good luck - it CAN be done!!


Too true.

The other piece of advice is to see failure as a good thing. It's not "oh I failed, I suck". I'd see it as "Oh, I failed, means I have more stuff to learn/perfect/get right first still! that way I'll be less at risk of killing someone on the road next time if I pass!"

It's true, too. If you fail, it's not because you suck, just because you weren't at test standard. Doesn't say anything about you - just about how you drive. The examiners want you to pass as well - they just have to keep within certain rules.
Reply 43
cheers, yeah i know. i see learners going around and now and then i drive pass the test centre and i do still feel a bit nervous despite being in my own car etc, months on!
Original post by mosmof
thanks for the comments - and im not an idiot, it was a series of bad luck.


Since you've decided to resurrect this thread, I'll resurrect my argument in somehat more detail.

I wouldn't call four fails bad luck, I'd call it looking before you can leap.

i found a cancellation for the 4th jan

i got my third test for 17th jan (another cancellation).

i took my fourth test on the 31st.


So you took 3 tests in under a month and whine about how much it cost you. Clearly it's not the tests that were at fault, it was you - so you needed to spend more time learning, not repeating the test endlessly.

Some people are just not very good at driving. It took me easily over 50 hours of learning, but I passed first time with 3 minors. Rather than rush into the test, I accepted I wasn't ready until I was.

So to everyone else - dont worry if you fail, but take your time and learn more before you try again; don't just book endless tests and clog up the system.
Reply 45
Original post by talon1579
Since you've decided to resurrect this thread, I'll resurrect my argument in somehat more detail.

I wouldn't call four fails bad luck, I'd call it looking before you can leap.



So you took 3 tests in under a month and whine about how much it cost you. Clearly it's not the tests that were at fault, it was you - so you needed to spend more time learning, not repeating the test endlessly.

Some people are just not very good at driving. It took me easily over 50 hours of learning, but I passed first time with 3 minors. Rather than rush into the test, I accepted I wasn't ready until I was.

So to everyone else - dont worry if you fail, but take your time and learn more before you try again; don't just book endless tests and clog up the system.
i didnt moan about how much it cost me. my instructor new i was more than capable, im not blaming other road users or anything but ask a majority of people and they will tell you the test is 30% skill and 70% luck! i know people that have passed - they cant even do a three point turn in a massive wide road and think there car is broke because they are in 4th gear going up a very steep hill!

its 40 minutes to prove something..
Reply 46
Since this thread has been revived I might as well inform you all that I did take my test again (about a month ago) and now I have a license :biggrin:

:woo:
Original post by Qaz25
Since this thread has been revived I might as well inform you all that I did take my test again (about a month ago) and now I have a license :biggrin:

:woo:


congrats brah :woo:

Im looking at getting some lessons for my 18th but i have no idea of the cost/where to go/how many to book :confused:. My mum said she would take me out in her little Citroen C1 once I have had 5 lessons!
Reply 48
Original post by mosmof
i didnt moan about how much it cost me. my instructor new i was more than capable, im not blaming other road users or anything but ask a majority of people and they will tell you the test is 30% skill and 70% luck! i know people that have passed - they cant even do a three point turn in a massive wide road and think there car is broke because they are in 4th gear going up a very steep hill!

its 40 minutes to prove something..


I'd agree. I've seen some right idiots during my lessons and it amazes me they have licenses. One guy coming in the opposite direction tried to overtake on a single carriageway on a completely blind bend and in the middle of traffic. Would have slammed head-on into me if I didn't brake sooner. But apparently he is deemed fit to drive! :tongue:

Anyway, I have my first test in a fortnight, was pretty nervous but reading your story gave me a bit more courage for it. Thanks and congrats.
Reply 49
Original post by rugbyladosc
congrats brah :woo:

Im looking at getting some lessons for my 18th but i have no idea of the cost/where to go/how many to book :confused:. My mum said she would take me out in her little Citroen C1 once I have had 5 lessons!


its usually around £21 an hour. its best to look around and see learner cars and take the number from the car. book a block of 40 and you will usually get a good discount, and you should be ready for test then, if not only 5 or so more usually.
Well, that's made me feel a bit better about things.
I started learning when I was 17, and I didn't want to (parents pushed me into it) and I had an awful BSM instructor, who frustrated me so much that I quit. I started again, and rushed into a test, when I obviously failed (nervous as hell). I gave up again for a year, then started again last summer, I did another test, and failed for having four minors on approaching junctions too quickly (bit sore on that) so failed.
Booked another straight away, but failed for turning too far past the line into a road (I thought it'd be a minor as nothing was coming down the road) but she failed me.
Fourth one - I ****ed up the parallel park, which happened 5 minutes into my test and I was still as nervous as hell, only got 3 minors, so that sucked.
Fifth - She failed me for going up the gears too slowly once, and apparently wasting petrol, only got 4 minors, so seemed pretty harsh.

In all honesty, just about ready to give up. My test centre has a pretty low pass rate too, which doesn't help, but I have to do it there.
YEAH BUT...you failed on silly mistakes which were just down to nerves. I failed on completely forgetting that at a junction, cars coming from the OTHER DIRECTION can also turn into the turning I was about to go to, and it's their priority! That's not nerves, that's being a dangerous fool whose brain can't deal with observations and remembering basic rules of other cars on the road. OK so it was the only major, and the other test was failed on just hesitation. But if it was that mistake one day, the next day I could turn a corner and smash into a cyclist, or stop in a yellow box (done that) or go the wrong way up the motorway.
I've given up for good, I don't want to be commandeering a death machine, quite frankly I trust any bus driver to keep me alive more than myself in a car.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by mosmof
thanks for the comments - and im not an idiot, it was a series of bad luck.


lol... fair enough maybe 1, 2 or even 3 times... but 5 times you have to admit your driving skills obviously weren't all that, you weren't ready.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by MissMaree
I had my test two weeks ago.
It got terminated because another car crashed straight into me - they didn't stop at a crossroads. It was not my fault - my examiner backs everyone up on this, but still couldn't pass me as any test with a collision has to be terminated....
At least you didn't have to go through this...!
I envy the people who just pass or fail their test - I didn't even get a chance to do either!

Now waiting for april for my next one :mad:


i passed first time and im a fine driver i do not know ANYONE who passed first time who crashed the only people my age i have known to crash passed on their second time or third so i think our storied balance out everything
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 54
Original post by Bellissima
lol... fair enough maybe 1, 2 or even 3 times... but 5 times you have to admit your driving skills obviously weren't all that, you weren't ready.

FYI - it was the reverse park that was doing me over - i still mess it up sometimes now!

Original post by Bellissima
i passed first time and im a fine driver i do not know ANYONE who passed first time who crashed the only people my age i have known to crash passed on their second time or third so i think our storied balance out everything

you are one of those people who think passing first time makes you perfect then :rolleyes: you idiot.
i passed first time.

but still the test isnt hard enough, too many times people pass when they shouldnt.

a 45min to an 1hr test isnt enough to sufficently decided whether someone is safe to drive fully on their own.

i know i wasnt, even after riding a bike on l plates for 2years prior didnt give me enough road sense to entitle me to a licence but evn so i got one.
Original post by mosmof
FYI - it was the reverse park that was doing me over - i still mess it up sometimes now!


you are one of those people who think passing first time makes you perfect then :rolleyes: you idiot.


that was my fave... i hated reverse around the corner so i was lucky i got reverse parking because i would have been more stressed with around the corner..


woah calm mate not once did i say that? all i said was that i passed first time and i am fine at driving (fine not perfect) and do not know anyone who passed first time who has crashed, the 3 people i know who have crashed passed 2nd and one of the 3 passed 3rd time... i said this to balance out what the person in the quoted post said.

i could equally call YOU an idiot for saying that "if you pass second time you are a better driver" or whatever that saying is... talk about overreaction.


i'm sorry if me saying you weren't ready (which you evidently weren't otherwise you would have passed at least on the 2nd or 3rd time) offended you. i never commented on your ability as a driver, simply that you weren't ready.. :rolleyes:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 57
Original post by Bellissima
that was my fave... i hated reverse around the corner so i was lucky i got reverse parking because i would have been more stressed with around the corner..


woah calm mate not once did i say that? all i said was that i passed first time and i am fine at driving (fine not perfect) and do not know anyone who passed first time who has crashed, the 3 people i know who have crashed passed 2nd and one of the 3 passed 3rd time... i said this to balance out what the person in the quoted post said.

i could equally call YOU an idiot for saying that "if you pass second time you are a better driver" or whatever that saying is... talk about overreaction.


i'm sorry if me saying you weren't ready (which you evidently weren't otherwise you would have passed at least on the 2nd or 3rd time) offended you. i never commented on your ability as a driver, simply that you weren't ready.. :rolleyes:


i never at all once said that first time?!

honestly mate.. dont go thinking you're a f1 driving hero for being assessed in 40 minutes and being told you've passed and thinking you were ready and all that :rolleyes:

can you say every time you've done a reverse park etc you've done it perfect in one go?! you must of done it perfect every time because of how 'ready' you are/were :rolleyes:
Original post by mosmof
i never at all once said that first time?!

honestly mate.. dont go thinking you're a f1 driving hero for being assessed in 40 minutes and being told you've passed and thinking you were ready and all that :rolleyes:

can you say every time you've done a reverse park etc you've done it perfect in one go?! you must of done it perfect every time because of how 'ready' you are/were :rolleyes:


LOL wtf are you going on about?!?! haahah i never realised "fine" equated to "perfect F1 driver hero"... i am sorry for saying i am a "fine" driver... as far as i was aware fine meant average but apparently lewis hamilton is just a fine driver....?
why is ok for people who pass 2nd or third to say they are capable of driving safely but not those who pass first time? why am i automatically classed as a racer who thinks she's invincable just because i am challenging the stereotype that passing first leads to be being arrogant cocky and crashing?

some people are so oversensative :s-smilie:

anyway you failed 4 times... you weren't ready... that is not a critisism, just a comment.. different people take different lengths of time to be ready for the test... and you didn't just fail on the reverse parking according to your story.

you also don't need to do the reverse parking "perfectly" to pass... and yes i did all maneuvers to a pass worthy standard consistently before i took my test.


Original post by mosmof
the best drivers pass second time everyone says.
(edited 12 years ago)
I'm so worried about this. I've been learning since March but because I often had to stop and start lessons, it's taken me a while when I was aiming to do my test around Christmas. I failed my theory first time by one point :frown: which is making me even more worried about the driving thing. It's so demotivating; I don't have any practice at home so only two hours a week at most. I'm paying so much and all by myself, and it's so discouraging to see people who started way after me already driving :frown:

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