Five live drive

IF AT FIRST you don't succeed, then try, try again.

That maxim has never seemed more appropriate to me than yesterday, the day of my fifth driving test - and success at last.

After four failures in the months running up to Christmas 2009, I made it a resolution to pass as quickly as I could in the new year.

The snowy weather meant I had little practice over the holiday season and so I moved this attempt back from 13th January to two weeks' later.

The extra time was spent doing a few more hours of practice but, just like previously, I was still nervous when test day arrived.

A final practice on the morning of the test with instructor David Convery settled me down and I succeeded in tidying up my manoeuvres, most particularly the reverse parallel park.

The test itself began at 12.43 under leaden skies though the roads were dry.

From the Gateshead test centre on Wellington Road in Dunston, I went straight on to the A1 for four miles to the West Road roundabout.

I made my way down the West Road and turned left at the Co-operative store crossroads into an estate where I performed my first manoeuvre - reverse round a curved corner.

Just pulling into stop before the manoeuvre, I showed my first real sign of nerves when I clumsily clipped the kerb after coming over a speed hump. This earned me one of just four minors on my test sheet.

Nevertheless, the curved corner manoeuvre went well and after some more estate driving, I was soon heading back to the test centre via the same crossroads and the A1 again.

I took the Dunston turn-off having still not done a second manoeuvre.

But, straight after the slip road, my confusion disappeared as I pulled into Beech Drive to do a reverse parallel park.

The morning practice paid dividends and I parked behind a white van without a problem.

It was then just a case of holding my nerve to get round the final few corners to the test centre.

When I arrived, I pulled into the parking bays aware that I had made no major mistakes. But I could not let myself believe it until the examiner said: "Peter, I'm pleased to say you've passed."

At that moment, the pent-up adrenaline suddenly surged and I leapt from the front seat to give a bear hug to David, my thrilled instructor.

My persistence had finally paid off. I had done it at last. I had given Millie the Micra a worthy owner.


Diary of a learner driver
November 2005
Applied for and received a provisional licence
January 2006
Took six hours of tuition but decided against learning to drive after fast losing confidence from early struggles with control of the car.
2009:
March 13
Passed theory test with 50/50 on the questions and 56/75 on hazard perception.
June 12
First assessment drive for two hours with instructor David Convery.
June 15-16
First crisis of confidence, a result of struggling with control of the car and clutch control in particular. David encouraged me to persist.
June 23
Last lesson before a break before Glastonbury Festival. After gaining some control of the car, I was introduced to some major roads and roundabouts.
July 6
Belated first lesson for almost two weeks after hiatus for Glastonbury Festival where I lost my spectacles causing a further delay.
July 31
Second crisis of confidence, regarding roundabouts in particular. My lack of understanding about which traffic affected me almost caused an accident and David applied the dual controls. I doubted once again if I could ever become a driver.
August 26
A major improvement on roundabouts raised my standard to test level but my observations were still quite poor and, with just a few corners to go before the end of the test, I failed my first attempt when attempting to turn right at a crossroads despite the presence of oncoming traffic.
September 26
A holiday in Portugal followed the first failed test, lasting until September 7. The bad nature of the failure provoked a third crisis of confidence and I decided to avoid the subject of driving for a while. I stopped contacting David, my instructor, until he sent a thought-provoking email. It pointed out that I had already invested a lot of time and money into passing my test over the summer, and that I really was not that far away.
October 12
I decided to continue but my driving confidence needed to be rebuilt as this was my first time back in a car for over six weeks.
October 29
Confidence was quickly restored thanks to some excellent tuition and I took my second test. I failed surprisingly on a turn in the road, despite this being my best/the easiest manoeuvre. Once again, my observations let me down.
October 31
The disappointment of a second failure was eased by the purchase of my very own car - a 2003 Nissan Micra Tempest in metallic blue, christened Millie by the previous owners.
November 25
A third test but a fourth crisis of confidence which ultimately killed off any chance of success. I put a lot of pressure on myself as I thought that I really ought to pass having narrowly failed on the previous occasions. This self-imposed stress and a poor body clock combined to give me hardly any sleep and it was no surprise when my thought-process failed towards the end of the test, leading me to choose the wrong lane on a roundabout.
December 16
After a few sessions of practice, I took a fourth test in much-improved spirits after a decent night of sleep. Unfortunately, I failed to clear a roundabout quickly enough having chosen to move off, and my last chance of passing before the holiday season was gone.
2010:
January 12-13
January 13th was the original date for my first attempt in 2010 but the wintry conditions meant I had not done any practice and I moved the test back two weeks. In the meantime, I took a few more lessons including some experience of driving on what ice remained on January 12th.
January 27
A fifth test and, finally, success. Persistence paid off and at last I got to tear up the L-plates. Instead, I attached some 'new driver' P-plates and completed a first 'independent' drive, a short trip to pick up my mother from work.