Andrew Langford School of Motoring

"It's not difficult to pass, but it's very easy to fail!"

Numerous pupils in the past and no doubt many more this and future years will continue to prove this statement to be true. Some pupils may have been unlucky, or felt hard done by, but all too many that have failed have done so for strange (and in some cases quite ridiculously stupid) reasons!!

What are the 10 most common reasons for failing a Test?

For each of the reasons listed below I have given a genuine example of an 'offence' committed by some of my previous pupils (and listed some of the more regular situations that occur):-

Observation at junctions - not looking left before emerging

Reverse parking - not finishing close enough to the kerb and inadequate observation

Use of mirrors - not used at the correct time i.e. too late or not at all!

Reversing round a corner - not accurate and/or inadequate observation

Incorrect use of signals - too soon /too late /misleading

Moving away safely - blindspot checks / oncoming traffic

Incorrect positioning on the road - too wide / wrong lane

Lack of steering control - unable to straighten after a corner

Incorrect position before turning right - drifting across / starting turn too early

Inappropriate speed - exceeding speed limit or too much beneath speed limit

How are faults assessed?

The examiners can fail pupils for what they will regard as serious or dangerous faults, irrespective of how few other driving faults are recorded. Although it is possible to have a ZERO score, they are very rare - but I have had 7 pupils achieve that in nearly 18 years of teaching.

Even those 7 pupils may not have had a perfect drive as there may have been some extremely minor faults (referred to as 'not worthy'), such as 1mph over the speed limit; a slightly heavy brake; marginally late checking a mirror; or a small adjustment to a reversing manoeuvre.

Sometimes there can be an instantaneous fail i.e. not checking a blindspot when a vehicle is about to pass, but if the road is quiet and the blindspot is ignored/forgotten there could be a series of driving faults recorded. But if it happens once too often the 'habitual' fault can be converted into a serious fault. The examiner may well have decided that 'if they forget again next time it will be a serious fault.' One examiner recently, at the end of the Test, did ask a pupil "How do you normally check your blindspot?" The pupil then demonstrated it perfectly, following which the examiner commented, "Why didn't you do it like that in the Test?" before telling him that he had passed his Test.

But don't think that you can get away with being lazy - you have to try to avoid giving away faults and give the examiner no reason to record anything on their sheet.

Since April 2010 when the (optional) 'observer on test' was introduced, I have sat in more than 100 Tests and have NEVER ONCE disagreed with an examiner's verdict if a pupil has failed, but instead I have witnessed degrees of leniency and a stern telling off at the end of the Test. So examiners are not as horrible as they can be made out to be!