That familiar feeling

I HAD a less than four-midable outcome as a fourth driving test failure left me with a now familiar feeling.

Just like on my third attempt, my critical mistake was at a roundabout - this time, on the Team Valley.

But unlike last time when I used the wrong lane, it was my moving off which let me down.

Another major difference to my stressful third experience was the fact that I had a good night of sleep and felt alert rather than nervous.

And so, on approach to the roundabout, I realised there was traffic and I would not be able to go. I put the car into first gear and waited for a chance.

A couple of opportunities arose almost straightaway but I had not had enough time to notice them.

Sure enough, I spotted a third chance with a car from opposite blocking traffic from the right - and I decided to take it.

The gap was legitimate but I moved off so slowly that the car from opposite had gone and a truck from the right had begun to move.

I still managed to clear the junction in time but it was much tighter than it should have been and my lack of urgency caused the examiner to mark this as serious.

I had been assessed by this examiner previously - on my second effort when I failed on poor observation on a turn in the road.

The manoeuvre must be a favourite of his as he asked me to do it again but this time my concentration was much better and I completed it without any bother.

Having left the Gateshead test centre on Wellington Road in Dunston, I drove on the A189 to Bensham for the turn in the road before heading to Low Fell for my second manoeuvre, a reverse park.

Again, I overcame this task easily enough but elected to tidy up my straightening of the car by using first gear, costing me one of seven minors.

From there, I drove back to the test centre via the Waggon Team roundabout and a short trip on the A1 lasting just one junction.

While I realised at the time that I had made a mistake on the roundabout back on the Team Valley, I hoped the fact that I managed to clear the junction just in time would be considered in my favour.

But it was not to be, and the result left me once again scrambling for the positives.

As expected, the experience of three earlier tests made me less nervous and my manoeuvres passed off well in the test and in practice with my instructor David Convery.

The result, however, was another crushing blow and it means that Millie the Micra goes into 2010 still sitting outside the door without a fully-licensed owner.

Of course, I intend to continue into the new year until I pass but, after a fourth failure, I have also been left wondering if I will ever do enough to cross the finishing line.