The Student Room Group

Appeal my driving test? I think I've got a half decent case!

I was told to send an email to: [email protected] outlining the case, along with my test details which I wont say here obviously. Here's the full email:


Dear DVSA
I am writing to let you know about what I feel was an incorrect decision on my driving test. The reason given for the failure was an outstanding left signal after coming off a roundabout. The reason for this was bad luck in that normally the indicator light is supposed to go off on it's own but on this occasion, inexplicably, in this vehicle, it did not. I wish to appeal the fail decision as this ''fault'' was not in any way related to incorrect or unsafe driving in any way. There was also (if any) very little confusion to other vehicles currently in the same vicinity as me, nor was there any obstruction or otherwise hazard caused to them. I am aware that these are the hallmarks of a major fault. Based on these markings, this infraction should not have constituted a major fault.

To the examiners credit, I do believe the test was conducted in a fair and non discriminatory way and I in no way wish to cast doubt on this examiners overall professional ability or standing but I do feel that in this case the wrong decision was made. Especially as I had only one other fault in the whole test (a minor fault for control during bay parking). In light of the rest of my test being almost completely clean, I believe that this small infraction should not have been recorded as a major fault, or at the very least, the examiner should have allowed me more time to manually switch off the indicator. I fully understand and appreciate that a fail decision cannot be overturned, however, I strongly believe that my case should be considered for a retest free of charge, not on the grounds of discrimination or unprofessional conduct, but that a minor infraction (which was not even my due to my mistake) was interpreted as a major fault, and the only major fault resulting in much lost time and extra money spent.
Thank you for your consideration

(my name)

TLDR: For some reason my indicator light didn't turn off automatically and he gave me a major for it. I only had one major and one minor on the WHOLE TEST. Do you think I'll get a free retest??
(edited 5 years ago)

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That’s harsh :-( I didn’t know that an indicator not cancelling itself could be a major. Did you decide scuds it with the examiner?

Good luck with your appeal
Original post by nmudz_009
I was told to send an email to: [email protected] outlining the case, along with my test details which I wont say here obviously. Here's the full email:


Dear DVSA
I am writing to let you know about what I feel was an incorrect decision on my driving test. The reason given for the failure was an outstanding left signal after coming off a roundabout. The reason for this was bad luck in that normally the indicator light is supposed to go off on it's own but on this occasion, inexplicably, in this vehicle, it did not. I wish to appeal the fail decision as this ''fault'' was not in any way related to incorrect or unsafe driving in any way. There was also (if any) very little confusion to other vehicles currently in the same vicinity as me, nor was there any obstruction or otherwise hazard caused to them. I am aware that these are the hallmarks of a major fault. Based on these markings, this infraction should not have constituted a major fault.

To the examiners credit, I do believe the test was conducted in a fair and non discriminatory way and I in no way wish to cast doubt on this examiners overall professional ability or standing but I do feel that in this case the wrong decision was made. Especially as I had only one other fault in the whole test (a minor fault for control during bay parking). In light of the rest of my test being almost completely clean, I believe that this small infraction should not have been recorded as a major fault, or at the very least, the examiner should have allowed me more time to manually switch off the indicator. I fully understand and appreciate that a fail decision cannot be overturned, however, I strongly believe that my case should be considered for a retest free of charge, not on the grounds of discrimination or unprofessional conduct, but that a minor infraction (which was not even my due to my mistake) was interpreted as a major fault, and the only major fault resulting in much lost time and extra money spent.
Thank you for your consideration

(my name)

TLDR: For some reason my indicator light didn't turn off automatically and he gave me a major for it. I only had one major and one minor on the WHOLE TEST.

You were at fault for not realising that you were still signalling. The examiners judgement of how serious it was is almost certainly better than yours.

Tests are always a bit of a gamble - road conditions are never the same for two people. Good luck in your next one.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by SanityIsGone
That’s harsh :-( I didn’t know that an indicator not cancelling itself could be a major. Did you decide scuds it with the examiner?

Good luck with your appeal


i was so gutted in the moment that I didn't say much and I knew that there's no way of overturning a decison
Not a lot of consolation, but if you got through the rest of the test with only one minor your driving is obviously good, so passing a retest shouldn’t be a problem
Reply 5
Original post by SanityIsGone
Not a lot of consolation, but if you got through the rest of the test with only one minor your driving is obviously good, so passing a retest shouldn’t be a problem


I believe I deserve a free retest because judgement on whether or not my indicator light was on too long or not would vary from examiner to examiner. This, I believe is a highly dubious point to judge me as an incompetent driver because the remainder of the test was pretty clean
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 6
According to the DVSA standards, a mistake in indicating is always considered a major fault. Therefore your examiner followed the test standard correctly and did not do anything wrong. You would only be able to appeal if there was evidence of misconduct, you cannot appeal on the grounds that you disagree with the examiner's judgement.

The fact that it was the car misbehaving is of no consequence, since you are responsible for the car, not the DVSA. Plus you could easily have cancelled the indicator manually I expect.

No doubt it's annoying to have to re-do the entire test because of one mistake, but at the end of the day you still did make a mistake and you're going to have to deal with that, frustrating though it might be. Fingers crossed your next test goes smoothly. :smile:
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by Dez
According to the DVSA standards, a mistake in indicating is always considered a major fault. Therefore your examiner followed the test standard correctly and did not do anything wrong. You would only be able to appeal if there was evidence of misconduct, you cannot appeal on the grounds that you disagree with the examiner's judgement.

The fact that it was the car misbehaving is of no consequence, since you are responsible for the car, not the DVSA. Plus you could easily have cancelled the indicator manually I expect.

No doubt it's annoying to have to re-do the entire test because of one mistake, but at the end of the day you still did make a mistake and you're going to have to deal with that, frustrating though it might be. Fingers crossed your next test goes smoothly. :smile:


But is that really true? Because in my last test the examiner said turn right and I put the left indicator on for a couple of seconds by accident, no doubt confusing the car behind me, but I only got a minor for it. So if that was a minor, why wasn't this? This sort of inconsistency is incredibly frustrating and unfair, not least because now I have to go through the test again, take time out of my week to practice, etc etc and not forgetting the 62Β£ fee not to mention atleast another 50Β£ on a lesson in the run up to the test.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by nmudz_009
But is that really true? Because in my last test the examiner said turn right and I put the left indicator on for a couple of seconds by accident, no doubt confusing the car behind me, but I only got a minor for it. So if that was a minor, why wasn't this? This sort of inconsistency is incredibly frustrating and unfair.


That's not exactly a mistake unless you didn't do the correct mirror observations, so yeah a minor fault makes sense. Unfortunately a lot of these things come down to judgement, which can certainly vary by examiner. You can't say you didn't make a mistake this time though, and the examiner is entirely within their rights to say it's a major fault for that error. Again, disagreeing with the examiner isn't a good enough reason to appeal.
Seriously? If you do get a free retest it will only be because you gave them a good laugh!

So it’s the car’s fault? 😳 You only have to concentrate for 40 minutes and you didn’t hear the ticking of the indicator or see the flashing green light on the dashboard?? You weren’t paying attention! Annoying on a good drive, but I bet you’ll be more careful in future.

Sometimes the answer is β€˜no’. Do it again. This is the cheapest part of your motoring. After this comes a car/insurance/tax/servicing etc etc. So the cost issues will always be there in one form or another.

Good luck for next time - don’t take it to heart, just get it done.
Reply 10
You won't get a free retest, because you should have failed. There wasn't anything wrong here.

You could (and should) have cancelled your indicator to avoid confusing other road users.

You'll find that if you don't turn your steering wheel enough, it won't automatically cancel. At a roundabout just before joining a major A road 2 minutes from my house, the exit is too loose of a turn to automatically cancel the indicator.. further around the roundabout there's a turn that's too tight and the indicator cancels halfway through a revolution of the roundabout!

The key here is to control your indicators correctly, and the rest of your car for that matter. Cars go wrong - it's your responsibility to make sure it does everything correctly.
I failed a test and my instructor believed it wasn’t justified, and said that it should be appealed, however, if they do allow a retest, you have to have two examiners with you. Obviously that means it’s going to be a lot harder and it’s probably not worth it.
I don’t think the indicator thing should have been a major, but it is your own responsibility to make sure you turn it off regardless of whether the car normally does it itself or not. It is a mistake though, someone could have thought you were turning and pulled out on you, or cars behind could have thought you were pulling over and overtaken etc
Good luck on the next test!
Reply 12
Original post by GSedgley
I failed a test and my instructor believed it wasn’t justified, and said that it should be appealed, however, if they do allow a retest, you have to have two examiners with you. Obviously that means it’s going to be a lot harder and it’s probably not worth it.
I don’t think the indicator thing should have been a major, but it is your own responsibility to make sure you turn it off regardless of whether the car normally does it itself or not. It is a mistake though, someone could have thought you were turning and pulled out on you, or cars behind could have thought you were pulling over and overtaken etc
Good luck on the next test!

I wouldn't mind 2 examiners as long as I don't have to pay for a retest. All Examiners are trained to see all the mistakes so I don't see how two of them would make it any more difficult unless they make up rules or pull driving faults out of their ass or something haha. I totally accept it as my responsibility to turn off the indicators, but it should not have been seen as a major at all. For God's sake, at many test centres people have touched kerbs during manuveres and gotten away with it, because the examiner should be able to see the difference between someone having hard luck and just being a terrible driver. If the purpose of the test is to judge who's a safe driver then failing someone who's quite clearly a safe driver based on the evidence of having 1 minor and one ambiguous major (you're allowed 15 faults for ffs), is quite honestly ridiculous and would seem to be purely money grabbing exercise. I say ambiguous because another examiner could have waited longer. They cannot judge me as a more unsafe driver than someone who got 14 minors or sum **** and still gets to pass
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by nmudz_009
I wouldn't mind 2 examiners as long as I don't have to pay for a retest. All Examiners are trained to see all the mistakes so I don't see how two of them would make it any more difficult unless they make up rules or pull driving faults out of their ass or something haha. I totally accept it as my responsibility to turn off the indicators, but it should not have been seen as a major at all. For God's sake, at my local test centre people have touched kerbs during manuveres and gotten away with it


It might make them more likely to give you minors seen as they have another person watching over them and making sure they do it right
Go for it, you have nothing to lose, worst that can happen is they say no
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by IWMTom
You won't get a free retest, because you should have failed. There wasn't anything wrong here.

You could (and should) have cancelled your indicator to avoid confusing other road users.

You'll find that if you don't turn your steering wheel enough, it won't automatically cancel. At a roundabout just before joining a major A road 2 minutes from my house, the exit is too loose of a turn to automatically cancel the indicator.. further around the roundabout there's a turn that's too tight and the indicator cancels halfway through a revolution of the roundabout!

The key here is to control your indicators correctly, and the rest of your car for that matter. Cars go wrong - it's your responsibility to make sure it does everything correctly.


This. There's also the fact that the DVSA weren't there to see the conditions under which the fail was given, nor do you have a reputable witness. You're an inexperienced driver and the examiner most likely spotted something you didn't. I'm sure the DVSA receive thousands of these emails daily and will skim through it and see it as just another complaint with no evidence of an unfair result - you're only eligible for a retest if there's proof that the test was conducted unfairly, and you don't have that.
Reply 15
Original post by suzysues
Seriously? If you do get a free retest it will only be because you gave them a good laugh!

So it’s the car’s fault? 😳 You only have to concentrate for 40 minutes and you didn’t hear the ticking of the indicator or see the flashing green light on the dashboard?? You weren’t paying attention! Annoying on a good drive, but I bet you’ll be more careful in future.

Sometimes the answer is β€˜no’. Do it again. This is the cheapest part of your motoring. After this comes a car/insurance/tax/servicing etc etc. So the cost issues will always be there in one form or another.

Good luck for next time - don’t take it to heart, just get it done.

I don't give a damn about failing itself, my only concern is the money and time. I would not be having this discussion if I could do it again the following day. And for a working earning person car expenses are tiny compared to what you might spend on rent bills food and going out each month. I haven't started my job yet so have no income only savings. So I think you'll find that car expenses are going to hit me harder at this point in my life than any other. So don't be so damn condescending.
Reply 16
Original post by It's****ingWOODY
This. There's also the fact that the DVSA weren't there to see the conditions under which the fail was given, nor do you have a reputable witness. You're an inexperienced driver and the examiner most likely spotted something you didn't. I'm sure the DVSA receive thousands of these emails daily and will skim through it and see it as just another complaint with no evidence of an unfair result - you're only eligible for a retest if there's proof that the test was conducted unfairly, and you don't have that.

Not to be blunt, but do you really have proof of any professional misconduct ( or whatever the grounds for appealing are) if no one was there to witness it? Are you telling me that no appeal can ever go through if a third party was not present ? Because if that's the case then it makes all of zero sense to have an appeal process in the first place, because i don't see how anything can ever be proven unless something extremely unpleasant happens which leaves some physical evidence
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by nmudz_009
Not to be blunt, but do you really have proof of any professional misconduct ( or whatever the grounds for appealing are) if no one was there to witness it? Are you telling me that no appeal can ever go through if a third party was not present ? Because if that's the case then it makes all of zero sense to have an appeal process in the first place, because i don't see how anything can ever be proven unless something extremely unpleasant happens which leaves some physical evidence


You have to be able to prove that the examiner didn't follow the DVSA regulations, yes. This is why some people choose to have their instructor in the car with them.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 18
Original post by It's****ingWOODY
You have to be able to prove that the examiner didn't follow the DVSA regulations, yes. This is why some people choose to have their examiner in the car with them.

So unless u had ur instructor with you there's no point in appealing. Literally. Zero. Point. Just a load of money grabbers aren't they.
Reply 19
Original post by nmudz_009
So unless u had ur instructor with you there's no point in appealing. Literally. Zero. Point. Just a load of money grabbers aren't they.

Not really - the only people usually appealing are those who wouldn't be eligible to appeal anyway

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