I HAVE RETIRED AND CONSEQUENTLY AM NOT TAKING ON ANY PUPILS.

Please feel free to browse this site.

beware of unauthorized third parties muscling in on the act and trying to charge you a fee for booking your driving test when you can book the test directly with the DVSA yourself


For test appointments


phone 0300 200 1122

NOT

the driving school number at the top of this page

or book online by clicking this LINK

or book by post

(get a form from the post office)


In Nottingham, reorganisation of driving test venues took place in March 2013. Chalfont Drive was replaced by two new venues, one located at Nottingham Trent University on the Clifton campus and which, after a couple of years is now going to be closed (!) and the other in Beeston which has since been re-located twice (!) and is now known as Chilwell..There is also Colwick a new, multi purpose driving test centre (MPTC), opened in October 2008 and located at the end of private road No5 on the Colwick industrial estate (beware the potholes, I just lost a tyre in one, cost me 95 quid) and for those North of town there is Watnall. So that's four, sorry three, possibilities to choose from.
There are other possibilities further afield but I don't cover those.

When to Take Your Driving Test?

Your instructor will advise you when to apply for your driving test. You can do that online, by phone or by post. The driving test fee is currently £62.00 (£75.00 on Saturdays). You will receive a letter of confirmation a couple of weeks after you apply and the test date will usually be six to eight weeks after you first applied.
Your instructor should give you two or three practice tests as your driving test date approaches. As a result of these, he may feel you are not on schedule and advise you to take extra lessons and possibly put your test date back to accommodate them. In this event, you need to give a few working days notice to change your driving test appointment.

You should delay your driving test if your instructor says you are not ready for it.

Taking and failing your test when you are not ready will cost you a lot more than a few extra lessons. It will damage your confidence and could ruin you for subsequent driving tests.

On the Day of Your Test

On the day of your driving test you should have a warm up session in your usual tuition car with your driving instructor, arriving at the test centre a few minutes before the appointment. You will go into the driving test centre with your instructor and wait for the examiner. At Clifton you will wait in the car for the examiner to come out to you.

At the Driving Test Centre

The examiner will come out of the office and will ask to see your driving licence. He will ask you to sign in a box on his test form to say your car is insured for him to carry out the driving test.
He will ask if you want your instructor to ride in the back of the car during the test. Some people like the idea. Others prefer not to have their instructor watching. The choice is entirely yours. Your instructor will not be offended if you say no.
Then the examiner will ask you to lead out to the car, ask if he can call you by your first name and tell you his.
He will ask you to read a number plate as an eyesight check.
Then he will want you to show or tell him how to do a couple of the safety/maintenance checks taken from the full maintenance schedule which your instructor should have practiced with you. They are not difficult. They take no more than a couple minutes to do.

The Driving Test

You will then go for a drive lasting approximately 40 minutes. Most of the time the examiner will give you detailed instructions as to where to go but for a period of about twenty minutes he will want you to follow a route he gives you and want you to sort out that route unaided. He will say something like 'follow the route for Loughborough A60 until further notice'. Try to sort out where to go next as you drive but don't worry if you get lost. The examiner will sort you out. He doesn't want you to get too lost. That would make him late for his next test! As long as you continue to drive safely and without causing significant inconvenience, you won't fail.

At the end of the test the examiner will tot up your driving faults and tell you whether you have passed or failed. He will ask you if you want your instructor to hear the debrief. If you don't want your instructor to hear the debrief and they are already in the car, you can ask them to leave. Having given his analysis, the examiner will give you some paperwork and leave the car. Your instructor will lend you some tissues and drive you home.

The New Driving Test

The title's not quite right. It's not a totally new test format to be introduced on 4th Dec 2017. Rather its a revised design of test incorporating some changes as follows:
1. The independent driving described above will be increased to 20 minutes.
2. 4 out of 5 tests will feature taking directions from a Sat Nav. The examiner will bring a Sat Nav with him and set it all up. You will not be required to set the cars Sat Nav. All you will have to do is follow the instructions given by the examiner's Sat Nav.
3. The 3 point turn and the reverse round the corner will be deleted but the bay park and the parallel park will be retained.
4. A new simple manouvre will be introduced involving safely crossing over to the other side of the road and parking; then reversing back for two cars lengths; then stopping; then safely crossing back over to the usual side of the road and driving on.
5. A show me question will be asked of the candidate whilst they are driving such as 'show me how you would use the wipers to clean the windscreen'.
6. The 'tell me' question will be asked at the start of the test before the candidate starts driving.

kev stevenson