|
I had 12 lessons before I took my 1st test (in 1956), and only failed because I hadn't been taught how to double declutch to get into 1st gear in the driving school's 3-speed gearbox Ford 100E Anglia. The minimum speed in 2nd was about 20 mph so that was my minimum speed, except when coming to a standstill. There were very few stop lines at crossroads in those days so everybody had to exercise their own discretion as to at what speed they crossed them. I crossed them at 20 mph, which earned me a fail. Following that I had about 5 more lessons with a different driving school in a 4-speed Morris Minor and passed with no problem. I didn't get any practice by driving any cars other than the driving school's cars because none of my relatives or friends owned a car.
|
Six, I think, and passed first time.
I was helped by driving tractors from about 12-years-old which taught me the rudiments of clutch and steering control.
Also a Land Rover on private land/fields.
Then tractors on the road from 16-years-old.
And a moped, well two, a Raleigh step-thru, centrifugal clutch, driven by a fanbelt, then a Yamaha FS1E.
And I did have a go on a combined harvester once, but it wasn't brand new and I don't think it had a key - theft of tackle was more or less unheard of in those days.
|
|
I think I took something like 25 lessons (but most were 2 hr sessions) and I passed my test first time. My examiner was also being tested on the day of my test, so not only did I have him in the front, but another person in the back observing him.
|
>> I think I took something like 25 lessons (but most were 2 hr sessions)
My total of 17 were only 1 hour each.
|
>> >> I think I took something like 25 lessons (but most were 2 hr sessions)
>> My total of 17 were only 1 hour each.
Sorry, I should have made that clearer. I had an introductory 1 hr lesson, followed by approx 12 lessons which were each 2 hours long.
|
None, i just transfered from a bike aged 17yrs and passed at the second attempt.
(i moved my whole head to look in the mirror on the second attempt..)
|
I too learnt in a Ford 100E. And I too failed first time because I didn't double declutch into first on corners.
I was taught by my dad and after the first failure I had to teach myself to double declutch as my dad didn't know how to. After the second test, which I passed, the examiner asked me who had taught me to double declutch but not wanting to sound too cocky I told him my dad.
I can't remember how many hours I had driven before the tests but my dad just sat there and let me get on with it.
This was all in 1972 so the Ford Popular was a bit long in the tooth by then and not the usual learners car.
|
Lots, IIRC 26, after many years of driving a motorbike. When I was comfortable in "driving for the test", we covered some further topics. It was all great fun.
Drat. Apologies for replying to the wrong article. The first time I've done it, I think.
Last edited by: FotheringtonTomas on Wed 10 Mar 10 at 10:47
|
16 @ (17/6) 87.5p per lesson = £14+ test fee
So a total of about £16.50
Also had 2 hrs in my brothers car - then we fell out.
Passed 1st time in XMS 72 - Morris 1000 (1100cc) - about an egg timers worth 0-60
|
I think about 15 1hr lessons for me before I passed 1st time.
Ironically, I think I spent more time doing the sessions for the IAM advanced test (something like 12-15 2 hr sessions), but then I enjoyed the chat with the instructor and the driving for that, so neither of us were keen to end it with the test! :)
|
I had 13 1hr lessons total and passed second time.
>>
>>I didn't get any practice by driving any cars other than the driving school's cars because none of my relatives or friends owned a car.
>>
I was in exactly the same situation and had never ridden a motorbike.
I failed the test first time for overtaking too close to other vehicles. I should have left full clearance for a car door to be opened. Nice in theory but London would come to a halt.
I recall one highway code question " What are guard rails ?"
I still have not tried a bike. I have hired an auto moped in Bermuda where there is a 20mph speed limit but I did have SWMBO hanging on. I think the wicker basket on the front affected the top speed :-)
|
I had 17 hour-long lessons before I passed my car test (first time), then immediately paid for a further two hours of my instructor's time to take me on the motorway.
I started training at Stagecoach on a Monday morning and then took (and passed first time) my PCV - or PSV as it was then - on the Friday afternoon. Mind you, I was the only trainee that week so it was pretty much one-to-one tuition all week.
|
|
Something like 6 or 7 one hour lessons then passed first time. I had already been driving on Formby Beach and a disused airfield somewhere I can't remember. I was still far too cocky and overconfident on getting my licence at the tender age of 17 years and 3 months.
|
>> I had 17 hour-long lessons before I passed my car test (first time) then immediately
>> paid for a further two hours of my instructor's time to take me on the
>> motorway.
>>
I too would have paid for motorway lessons but in 1964 I cannot recall there being any motorways in Scotland!!
|
I had one 1-hour lesson before I passed my test. Or, should I say, 1 professional lesson from an instructor.
I turned 17 at end of October and thereafter any journeys in the car were done with me behind the wheel of the Talbot Samba. So if someone was going to shops, to friends, relatives etc I would drive and gained valauable experience doing this.
In fact , looking back it was maybe a bit of a con. As the Samba was the car that all my brothers and sisters used, my dad had set up a system whereby it cost you 10p a mile to use it and the mileage was marked up in a log book. But these charges didn't apply if you were learning to drive.......
Well, we are Scottish....
I passed my test, first time, at beginning of Feb. Although it was touch and go as the Samba had a nasty habit of not wanting to start when the engine was cold... or hot.... or warm....
|
|
15 one hour sessions, I think. But lots of driving with my dad.
|
Around 20 if I remember.
Six with a driving school that had Minis like my Mum's but an instructor who turned out to have no patience. The rest with Ted Rhodes School of Motoring in Yeadon, Leeds. Ted had a wonderful instructors "patter" (and told some rather dirty jokes!!).
|
I had 5 3 hour lessons over a period of two weeks, plus lots of driving with parents, and passed first time less than a month after turning 17.
I should have had 6 lessons, but I deferred one and used it for two hours instruction on the motorway after I'd passed instead. My reasoning was that if I failed, it was unlikely to be because I'd not had enough instruction, more that it would be a stupid mistake or lack of practice.
In retrospect it was probably a bit quick, but I had a load of road experience as I'd been riding bikes in city traffic for years. I've had a clean licence and insurance record ever since, so I must be doing something right.
|
|
How can you all remember? I've no idea, and while no spring chicken I think I'm some way from being the oldest around here (45).
|
>> How can you all remember?
Well, I did mine fairly recently, in the last decade or two. I am amused to see that this seems to've turned into some sort of reverse-willy-waving "I did it in fewer lessons than *you*!" competition.
|
>>I've had a clean licence and insurance record ever since, so I must be doing something right.
Another reason for your Username?
|
About 20 1 hour sessions, I think. Plus many hours kangarooing my Mum's Escort around the place.
Passed first time, 1987.
|
About 50 hours and passed fourth time, no other opportunities to practice.
Roughly 30 hours to start with, then the first test, 5 more hours, second test, 5 more hours, third test, 10 more hours and then passed.
|
Five one hour lessons - I'd booked six, but the instructor didn't turn up for one.
I'd been riding a m'bike for over a year and driving a bubble car on the bike licence. I'd had about six weeks of the RAC/ACU training before I took my bike test (1960s). The RAC/ACU scheme gave you a mock test at the end of the course (they claimed better than 90% pass rate) with the examiner following on another bike. Halfway round mine the examiner passed me and pulled me into a lay-by. I thought I must have done something really wrong. He explained he'd passed the same ice-cream van half-a-dozen times and couldn't resist it any more - did I want one?
|
Took me three attempts to pass, and I'm not now sure whether 1979 was the date of passing or the number of lessons. It's all a blur.
|
|
ten one hours lessons I think, at a tenner each, passed first time
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 10 Mar 10 at 17:41
|
I passed on April Fool's day 1986, about 6 months after my 17th and on the second attempt - in a Nissan Sunny with my 4th different instructor.
Dunno how many lessons but certainly no more than one a week. Probably between 15 and 20.
|
|
Four one hour lessons in a small Scottish town with no traffic lights and one zebra crossing and err no roundabouts. I passed first time - not difficult...
|
I think some who didn't have 'lessons' may have driven other cars for practice though. Today with our congested roads then passing is one thing but learning to be a competent driver is different. But to achieve a pass now must be more difficult.
I couldn't say how many 2 hour lessons I had to be honest. But I learned in Manchester (Whalley Range test centre.. so had to reverse around corners near prostitutes due to my instructor's wicked sense of humour) and driving in city centre Manchester was certainly a good learning experience! I also had no other car to use.
My first lesson with BSM involved hand brake turns in the old Maine Road (Man City) car park :-)
I hope my instructor is still doing this now. He was great.
|
>> due to my instructor's wicked sense of humour
My instructor had a habit of thumping the passenger door whenever I failed to use the passenger door mirror and announced that I'd just squished another cyclist. Learning to drive around Oxford you had to be careful of the cyclists who often rode along side the car and the kerb in slow moving traffic.
|
IIRC I had about 15, and passed the 2nd time.
I then went on to do my IAM about 6 months later, aged 18 1/4. For that I used the same instructor and had about 3 or 4 lessons.
I started with one instructor who wanted to do a course of 20 lessons. I booked a test date as he told me that I would have to wait 3 months or so, but I got a date the day after the earliest I specified. Against my instructors advice I decided to go for it. Despite me telling him that I wanted to do this and would like more lessons - he was not keen. So I decided to go with another chap who came highly recommended.
Mr Bullen - an uncompromising Cornishman did his best with me but I failed :( The second time I passed and we immediately set about preparing for the advanced test.
I prepared for and took the advance test in my mother's Volvo 340 Automatic. The IAM were not concerned about whether the test was taken in a manual or Auto. The fist test was taken in Mr Bullen's Mazda 323 manual.
|
>>But to achieve a pass now must be more difficult.
In general I would agree especially with the density of traffic now.
My test was at Isleworth with two nice features to deal with.
Possibly need to do a hill start at a level crossing and maybe a three point in a narrow road with a really steep camber ( in effect forward and reverse hill starts and then immediately avoid thumping a kerb )
|
>> My test was at Isleworth >>
Respects.
Round here, Teddington was always reckoned to be the test centre from Hades, (people never returned, let alone with a pass certificate) and Isleworth was reckoned to be not far behind.
Weybridge was the centre of choice, everyone passed there.
|
>> My test was at Isleworth >>
>>
Of course a certain T Woods failed his test at Isleworth.
Hat, coat, duck
|
I had just a month driving with Dad before taking first test which I failed as I hadn't learned the specifics needed to pass. So I re-booked the test and just before it contacted a local instructor asking for a couple of lessons to catch up on these details.
He rolled his eyes at the thought I could pass with so little test specific instruction and sure enough I failed the second one.
Then before the third test I had six lessons and passed that one. I remember asking the tester after the pass if I was allowed to accompany a learner and he remarked it would be like the blind leading the blind... he was known locally for a no mercy attitude.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 11 Mar 10 at 08:10
|
Think I had about 20 from BSM, but that was in 1968; a very long time ago.Paid by Dad- thanks.
They were out to maximise their income, I think, as I was not too bad and passed my test first time.
|
I had no formal driving lessons when I learnt to drive in the mid sixties.
I bought a 1936 Morris 8 for £20 (later sold for £17 10s 6d); my pal had passed his driving test so we just went out driving in the evenings. It was decided that I needed more experience of traffic so we drove into central London and did multiple laps of Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch.
On arriving at the test centre in Sidcup the examiner asked “Which is your vehicle?”. On pointing to the Morris, tucked into a corner, his reaction was: “Ooh, an old 8. Come on!” I knew I was on to a good thing from that moment on.
Off on the test I started waving my arms about every time we went round a corner. “Does this vehicle have indicators?” he asked.
“Errr, yes. Semaphore ones” I didn't like to tell him that the nearside indicator required the assistance of the passenger. You needed to thump the 'B' pillar to unstick the semaphore arm when going round left hand corners.
Like others I needed to double declutch to get into first gear.
I managed to pass , the only comment was that I didn't need to use the handbrake quite so often. I had understood that if the wheels stopped then the handbrake had to come on. In slow moving traffic I had been stopping, putting on the handbrake, then immediately into first and away.
The examiner's parting words were “What are you going to buy now, an E Type Jag?”
|
>> The examiner's parting words were “What are you going to buy now an E Type
>> Jag?”
Mine said after I parked up "Do you run excursions to the kerb?" (although I passed).
|
I had about 20 - 25 IIRC with the Vernon Davey school of Motoring in Walworth S.E.London driving a Mrk 1 Escort.
Bill Ronner (instructor) used to park up in a side street near a park to ask me questions on the HW code while he was watching the footie in sed park!!
Anyway - I passed 1st thyme.
|
>> Anyway - I passed 1st thyme.
So you 'parsleyed' first thyme? Was your instructor called Rosemary?
Sorry... :-)
|
>>> Was your instructor called Rosemary? <<<
Basil actually :-)
|
I had a reasonable amount of driving lessons around half a year ago before unfortunately failing my test whilst living in Hampton.
I am now living in London and am unsure whether to attempt my test whilst here or wait until I am living in a more rural area.
Are there pros and cons to learning in different areas? Does it really make a difference?
|
It used to be said it was easier to pass in a rural area.
One advantage of taking the test in a city is you will probably only have one speed limit - 30mph - to worry about.
I took my test in the late 1970s, I think it's a lot harder now.
By the same token, I had some older relations who never took a test at all.
I'm not sure when the driving test was introduced, but at one time you just filled in a form and sent it off to get a licence.
|
Have the standards for passing your test really changed that much?!
Thanks for the advice about the innercity driving. The more worrying factor would be the heavy traffic on the roads...
|
>> Thanks for the advice about the innercity driving. The more worrying factor would be the
>> heavy traffic on the roads...
My instructor claimed to have spent a lot of time teaching in London. His observation was that, because the test has a maximum duration, in built up areas at busy times of the day the candidates would actually not have to drive very far so, in theory, had less chance to do something wrong. He told me that he would often have candidates that spent half the test in the same queue of traffic.
I guess that could be the case, but when it is that busy and with the type of driving you often see in London, there is still an awful lot that you can do wrong (wrong in terms of passing the test, which might just be considered normal in non-test situations).
|
"Are there pros and cons to learning in different areas? Does it really make a difference?"
100 zloty guarantees you a pass where I live.
|
A short skirt guaranteed you a pass where I used to live - assuming you looked the part in it.
|
|
I assume you are also a good driver. ;-)
Last edited by: car4play on Sat 13 Mar 10 at 23:09
|
...I assume you are also a good driver. ;-) ...
Since I look dreadful in a short skirt, I had to be.
I was making a semi-serious point, believe it or not.
Girls seemed to be have more first time passes than boys among my peer group and us lads drew the inevitable, baseless, shallow conclusion that male examiners were being swayed by their hormones.
With hindsight, I think the girls realised they had to prepare properly and concentrate on the test, whereas some of the boys thought they could do it one-handed.
Academic exam results in schools are much better for girls than boys for the same reason - in my opinion.
|
|
I believe you; it's just my naughty sense of humour. I did try to resist saying it though, honest...
|
|
10 one hour lessons 2 of them in snow...passed first time, same with bike ( no lessons or snow)
|
A police uniform under a civvy coat was a good guarantee in my day........It was 1964 though. Perhaps black stockings and sussies, like our PWs used to wear would help
I think a test in an area you know like the back of your proverbial has got to be the thing.
I didn't have any lessons......went the traditional learning route, Moped, bike test, Motorbike, Bike and sidecar, three wheeler, Bond, on bike licence and then test in a car. Simples !
Then, class 3 police bikes,,class 3 Cars and Vans, class 1 bikes, then class 1 cars, HGV.
All paid for by the State !
Ted
Last edited by: silence of the cams on Sat 13 Mar 10 at 23:31
|
When I started having lessons the BSM rule of thumb was one lesson (hour) per year of age. So I had 17 lessons as a 17th birthday present and duly passed 2 months later.
They discouraged too much practising in parents' cars on the grounds of inadvertently picking up bad habits.
One good habit I did learn was the art of using the firm's car for private business. The first place we always went on my lessons was to pick up a sack of coal to take to the instructor's house.
|
My first instructor was with BSM; his name was Angus Moon (Some things stick in the memory!). We always had to stop off during the lesson for him to buy more cigarettes.
I was very glad to move to another, non-BSM, instructor who actually managed a full hour's lesson each time.
|
>> My first instructor was with BSM; his name was Angus Moon (Some things stick in
>> the memory!). We always had to stop off during the lesson for him to buy
>> more cigarettes.
>> I was very glad to move to another non-BSM instructor who actually managed a full
>> hour's lesson each time.
My second instructor (don't remember the driving school) used to get me to stop off at a corner shop to get a bar of chocolate. Mind you, he always used to ask me if I wanted anything AND he actually managed to get me to pass, unlike the first instructor who I failed with 3 times.
|
>> How many driving lessons did you have?
I forget but certainly in single figures.
Not much of a victory considering I had been able to shuffle Mum's Morris 8 up and down the drive since I was 8 and had been a regular visitor to Tockwith disused airfield in Mum's Hillman Imp and later her Triumph Spitfire.
At school I seemed to be the only person who knew of the existence of a compression release on the diesel-engined pitch roller so I was made Groundsman (my only sporting achievement) and had a tractor to push the sidescreens around with. Now 40 years later I'm using that invaluable experience to be a gardener. Ha!
Took my test in Durham in a Morris 1100 2-door and passed first time, November 1969.
|
...Took my test in Durham in a Morris 1100 2-door and passed first time, November 1969...
Would that be at the driving test centre in Hallgarth Street?
It's in a horrid concrete building which looks like it dates from around that time.
|
>>
>> Would that be at the driving test centre in Hallgarth Street?
>>
Probably but difficult to be certain. Memory, age, losing it etc.etc.
I do remember being given my emergency stop on a pile of autumn leaves on Potters Bank. I cadence braked my way through it but couldn't avoid thumping the kerb ever so gently as we stopped. The examiner murmured something which sounded like "Well held, young man". Whatever; it was a pass.
|
I had 7 paid-for lessons and an awful lot of practice every night in my dad's car. I only took the wheel for the first time the evening before my 17th birthday, in an empty industrial estate car park - on my birthday itself I drove around the same car park, through the town centre and the mile or so back home.
Within a week I'd had my first proper lesson and the instructor had given me the application form for my test to fill in. He told me there was a 12-week waiting list and that I should apply immediately as I would easily be good enough to pass by then. He was right... ;-)
I didn't have a theory test, just two questions in the test centre car park - one about what to do in fog and one about the zigzag lines either side of zebra crossings. I also didn't have to parallel park or reverse into a parking bay. I taught the former Mrs _TD to drive from scratch through to test pass and beyond, and she's one of only a handful of drivers I've ever felt comfortable passengering - most people I've known seem to blunder into situations too quickly through lack of anticipation.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 14:17
|
12 over a period of just under 6 months
Lessons in a Triumph Herald 13/60 convertible with no synchromesh on 1st gear.
Lots of practice in dad's Vauxhall Viva
|
|
Passed on the 12th lesson in a MK1 Fiesta, so 11 one hour lessons and then the test. Passed first time, lessons cost £7.50 in 1984 (I was a £25 a week YTS at the time), the instructor was a heavy smoking misery guts. I also drove dads Nissan Stanza, mostly after midnight collecting my sister from work.
Last edited by: WozDox on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 16:04
|
Further to my post above, my dad's car was a 4-year-old C-reg MkIII Escort 1.3 (not even the "L" model!) with optional 5-speed 'box, so underpowered and over-geared that it used to slow down up hills. My instructor had a 60,000-mile E-reg Micra in silver over black, but from my 2nd lesson onwards he'd got himself a brand spanking G-reg gold one. I was the first pupil to drive it, with 57 miles on the clock. :-)
I can still remember the registration numbers of all of them. I used to see the E-reg car around my hometown regularly up until three years ago, and its existence until 2007 is borne out by the DVLA website. I peered in the window 10 years ago or more and saw 140,000 miles on the clock.
|
...I do remember being given my emergency stop on a pile of autumn leaves on Potters Bank...
Pal of mine lives along there - he's very rich.
Houses go for £1m+, which might not be much for commuter belt Surrey, but is for Durham which has some of the economically deprived areas in Europe in its district.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 16:34
|
Eight.
Plus a first time pass.
|
I remember my first lessons way back . Hanson school of motoring, yes, an early part of the Hanson conglomerate and the lessons were 30 bob an hour in an Austin 1100.
I can't remember how many. I think it may have been 20 or so, but I do remember failing my first test due to not altering my speed upwards to 40 when I left the 30 limit.
The examiner at the time actually lent forward to look at the speedo as if to tell me in an unspoken way to speed up, but I never twigged and so failed for "failure to make progress."
Ironic really, given that I probably exceed the speed limits at some point every day.
PS
I do also remember my clutch leg trembling uncontrolably when holding it on the clutch for a hill start. Nerves I guess.
Since then passed a motorcyle test and a PPL test, both a bit nerve racking.
|
Of course we're all replying with car results.
What about motorcycles or HGV or PSV ?
Passed my PSV in York in 1978 first time after 12 lessons.
Passed my motorcycle test second time in Darlington in 2002 after 15 lessons. Age must be a factor.
|
why does one need driving lessons?
i thought it was a right given in the magma dark chocolate please that every red blooded knight of the queens realm could go forth and annoint the drovers roads?
|
|
I can honestly say (as I have said before near to here) that I never had a paid for lesson. I had loads of practice with my dear old dad, whose funeral, believe it or not is on Monday. After about 7 or 8 weeks he reckoned that I was ready and I passed first time back in April 1962 (you never forget your first time do you).
|
How many driving lessons did you have? - Iffy
