learning to drive in london (or surrounding areas): advice, S/D driving instructors, horror stories, etc

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ok, i need some advice, please. i've been a driver for 13 years officially, and my dad was teaching me for several years before that. i drove lots for a large chunk of that time, less so for the last four years although i've driven at least four or five times a year.

i've been in the UK long enough that car hire places are starting to hassle me about getting a UK license. i know i should do this. but where do i start?

it sounds like i have to take some kind of theory test first, is that right? and then a practical test-- which most english drivers fail at least once, from what i understand. this tells me it's harder than in michigan, where i took drivers education at sears. yes, the discount department store.

it seems like it would be a waste of money to do a full course on driving, but do i need a few lessons? how much will that cost?

i've heard it can be easier to pass the test if you take it outside of london, is this true? if so, how do you arrange that, and where should i do it?

seriously, any advice would be really good since i don't even know where to start...

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:24 (twenty years ago)

I think driving lessons here (Oxford) are about £20 or £25 an hour, but they possibly more in London. BSM (British School of Motoring) are okay, and have branches all over the country. Why not phone them up and get them to talk you through it?

The theory test is an online one you do at a designated test centre (google up driving theory test to find details). The hard part, so I'm told, is the Hazard Perception bit in which you watch a video on the computer screen of a simulated drive, and have to click the mouse every time you see a perceived hazard. You get 5 marks if you click within 5 seconds of the hazard appearing, 4 marks after 4 seconds, 3 marks if you hesitate 3 seconds etc, but there is no countdown clock on the screen to clue you in to anything, and if you click too soon or too late, you get no marks at all. It's a bummer, apparently.

You can get a Pass Your Driving Test CD-Rom to include practise Hazard Perception tests from places like WHSmith, and I think there's an official online practise one too.

― C J (C J), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

If you're already capable of driving, then you'll probably want to look into some kind of intensive course to make sure you're aware of the "right" way to drive a car (which is a lot of what the practical test is about, rather than just ability to drive without killing people).

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:39 (twenty years ago)

The rules:

Residents

Ordinary licence holders

Provided your full licence remains valid, you can drive any category of small vehicle shown on your licence for up to 12 months from the time you became resident. To ensure continuous driving entitlement a provisional GB licence must have been obtained and a driving test(s) passed before the 12 month period elapses. If you obtain a provisional licence during this period, you are not subject to provisional licence conditions e.g. displaying `L' plates or being supervised by a qualified driver or being precluded from motorways.

However, if you do not pass a test within the 12 month concessionary period you will not be allowed to drive as a full licence holder and provisional licence conditions will apply.

If you do not apply for a provisional licence within the first 12 months you must stop driving and obtain a British provisional licence with a view to passing a driving test. Provisional licence conditions will then apply.

From: http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/drvingb.htm

― Ed (dali), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:41 (twenty years ago)

The test is only radically different if you take it at a very remote centre - for example, someone I knew at university passed his test at the Rothesay centre, which is on an island with no roundabouts and only one set of traffic lights. So, obviously, he didn't get tested on how to drive round a roundabout.

You should probably take a few lessons to make sure you can do all the maneouvers you could be asked - 2 out of 3 of "reverse parallel parking", "reversing round a corner" and "3 point turn". Plus, your instructor will probably take you on a mock test, so you can see how you'll be marked down for any bad driving habits you've got.

(there are about 20 categories that you can fault on, and you're allowed 2 minor faults in each category before you fail)

Lessons will probably cost at least £15 per hour, although it's a few years since I did them myself so I'm not completely sure. I didn't have to do any sort of theory test myself.

(xxpost)

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

"reversing round a corner"

That doesn't sound very safe.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

Unless you just mean, like, pulling out of a space in a parking lot.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

they let you do it slowly

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

http://www.dulas.net/images/maneovres/reverse-round-corner.gif

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:47 (twenty years ago)

thanks...sounds like i should take some lessons and get the CD to practice.

i'm with jordan, that move sounds kind of mental! can't say i've ever had to do that in all my years of driving. i think tissp is probably right that i need some help with making sure i know how to drive in the 'right' (AKA 'english') way.

i've heard from other americans that the nice thing about failing the test is that you can then get in your car and drive away on your US license. (sketchy, but doable)

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:48 (twenty years ago)

the nice thing about failing the test is that you can then get in your car and drive away on your US license.

Only if you've got your provisional British licence within a year of becoming resident, according to those rules Ed posted.

If not, you have to do the same as anyone else in Britain: drive away with a qualified driver over 21 as your passenger.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 23 September 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

i know that's how it's supposed to work, but there's ambiguity in practice about time spent here or there, etc. i'm not saying it's completely legit, just that i've heard that some people do it.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 23 September 2005 12:09 (twenty years ago)

http://money.guardian.co.uk/cars/story/0,11944,1577150,00.html

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 26 September 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

thanks, that article is really useful! now i just need to find a low-priced local teacher and book a test in wolverhampton or something.

sigh. it was easier to do all this at sears, even though i learned in the middle of the winter, so ended up learning to drive in blizzards and on icy roads.

― colette (a2lette), Monday, 26 September 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

If you feel the need to have someone to sit in the car whilst you practise I can do it (can't remember if Toby has a DL or not)

― Ed (dali), Monday, 26 September 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

I'm told that Bangor (in north Wales rather than Northern Ireland) has one of the highest pass rates in Britain.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

I'm told that Bangor (in north Wales rather than Northern Ireland) has one of the highest pass rates in Britain.

sounds far away, but this is still the kind of information that is useful! i would totally book somewhere small and less busy and make the trip in order to only take the test once.

thanks ed, i'll let you know. toby doesn't drive yet, so could be helpful. i think the main problem is not having a car! i think paying an instructor for a couple hours a week isn't that much when compared to the hassle/cost of hiring a car, but it may come to that at some point.

― colette (a2lette), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)

Does Bangor do those intensive one/two week courses? Come to that, does the Rothesay centre do that? And where is that anyway? I want to cheat my way into becoming a driver for as cheaply as possible. (I am based in NW England).

― Affectian (Affectian), Monday, 26 September 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

from that article linked to, it looks like it's not the test centres that run the courses, but independent instructors in that area...yell.co.uk is surely your friend in that area?

side question: don't some people go abroad to take their test? (i've heard egypt is common) if so, do they run into the same problem as i'm facing and their license is only good for a year?

― colette (a2lette), Monday, 26 September 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

Only EU countries will be good for longterm effective licences in the UK.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 26 September 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

Rothesay is on Bute.

But, as colette said, it's not the test centres who run courses anyway. All the test centres do is test you.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

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