Kingsdriving School of Motoring

It is very common for test candidates to become very nervous as test day approach’s. For some it concentrates the mind and they work harder at getting things right, but more often I notice a deterioration in the level of driving skill that seems to be displayed.

If you have had a goodly number of lessons, then the effect is usually not so marked as it is for those who have progressed very well through their lessons and are at a good test standard, but have got there quickly. It seems that those who have had to take more lessons tend, once they have reached test standard, to be able to do what is necessary more “automatically” because they have done it so many times!

This being the case, I would advise anyone approaching their driving test, to have as much experience on the road as possible. If you can get a family member to take you out on the road for extra practice, then this is to be encouraged. Having said that, you should be careful that the person taking you out will be of help to you and not put you off your drive. Your concentration does need to stay on the road!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

When you arrive for your driving test, the test centre does not like you getting there earlier than 10 minutes before your test time. The reasoning for this is obvious if you think about it. If you arrive any earlier than that time you are in danger of making it difficult for candidates who are getting back from the previous test to get in to the car park easily, and in some cases blocking up the very few car park spaces that are available in the test centre car park.
Your instructor will know this and should take this into consideration, but if you are taking your own vehicle to test without a Driving Instructor, then you need to be aware of this fact.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

In October the DSA are making changes to the driving test. You will be asked to do just one maneuver (as opposed to the two that are done presently). This will give the examiner more time to take you on faster roads, and if available, dual carriageways and slip roads. They will also increase the number of right turns, especially across busy traffic as these take more judgment to do safely.

You will also be asked to follow a route over a few junctions without any input from the examiner. For this he may produce a small map to explain the route he wishes you to take.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

All foreigners with driving licences issued outside of the UK are allowed to drive in the UK for 12 months without obtaining a British driving licence.

If you have a driving licence issued within the European Economic Area (all EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), you can drive within the UK for as long as your licence remains valid.

If you have a driving licence issued in one of the so-called ‘designated’ countries (listed below), you need to exchange your licence for a British license to be able to drive in the UK for more than 12 months.

The designated countries are:
Australia,
Barbados,
British Virgin Islands,
Canada,
Falkland Islands,
Gibraltar,
Hong Kong,
Japan,
Monaco,
New Zealand,
Singapore,
South Africa,
South Korea,
Switzerland
and Zimbabwe.

If you hold a driving licence issued by any country not listed above, then you will need to pass a British driving test in order to continue driving in the UK beyond the initial 12-month period.

Converting your licence

Foreigners who are permanently resident in the UK and are not required to pass a British driving test (as explained above) may exchange their licence for a British licence. To do so you need to collect an application form (known as a D1 form) from any British post office and send it to the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA):

DVLA,

Swansea

SA99 1BT

________________________________________

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Now that the summer weather is returning (Ha Ha!) and the days are getting warmer, there will be an increased “risk” of meeting old and vintage cars on the road. These older cars are a lot less efficient than the modern vehicle at building up speed, and some can not reach the kinds of speeds that we’re used to driving these days.

You will be able to recognise these older vehicles because their number plates will usually be black with either white or silver numbers and letters.

So when you see these types of cars give them the time to move off, and be aware that they will not be able to take the same gaps in traffic when pulling out of a junction that you would expect from a car normally.

The other important consideration is the fact that many vintage cars are not fitted with the normal flashing indicators that were all used to. So keep an eye open for hand signals (check the highway code to be sure you know what those hands signals are). Some old cars are fitted with and indicating arm, which is a small orange “pointer” that pops out from the side of the vehicle to indicate direction. If you are not looking out for these indications, then they are easily missed and could be a problem if you decide to over take that slow moving car just when he has started to make his right turn!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

That is a fairly familiar statement that I come across as a driving instructor. It is something that I find un-exceptable, and I really can’t understand why some pupils would stick with an instructor like that. I can understand that it is not easy to change instructors – rather the devil you know, but if your instructor is upsetting you to that degree you can not possibly be learning to your fullest extent, and hence are wasting time and money.

Your instructor must be patient in the extreme and not scare or threaten you in any way. IT IS NOT YOU FAULT if you find the whole business of learning to drive a difficult process. A good instructor will help and nurture you through the process however long it takes!

Don’t be afraid to change your instructor if you are at all un happy with the way you are treated, or at the very least explain how you are feeling about it all. If your instructor is worth his salt he will adapt his teaching to suit you, so if nothing changes then I would recommend changing instructors.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

The driving test is set to change this coming October (2010). At the present time a candidate on test is asked to do one of three manoeuvres, being either a turn in the road, a corner reverse or a reverse parking manoeuvre (being either a parallel park or a bay park). The good news it that it is proposed that you will only be asked to do one manoeuvre, but the bad news is that you will be asked to do some independent driving.

Independent driving will mean that you are stopped on the side of the road and shown a small map. You will be given three directions to follow (eg down to the end of the road, turn left, at the second roundabout turn right, turn in second on the right). You will then be asked to drive on, and you will be expected to follow those instructions with out any input from the examiner.

The reason for doing this is to make sure that you are checking your mirrors and indicating  at the appropriate times and places and are able to proceed without being given directional instruction from anyone. Your mark sheet will be marked in exactly the same way as it is done presently, so there will be no additional boxes for the examiner to fill in in response to this new method of conducting the test.

As in instructor I will be bringing this independent fashion of driving into my driving lessons to be sure that my pupils are ready for this new element when it comes in in October. If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

At the beginning of your driving test, after the examiner has checked you can see the prescribed distance and before you drive the car out of the carpark, the examiner will ask you two questions about the car. These are very simple basic questions which you should know the answers to anyway. Some of the questions are extremely basic as in “Show me how you would check the horn works” (by pressing it!) to some questions that are easy, but you’ll have to have been told the answers first to know what they are asking for. As in “Tell me how you know that the power steering is working properly”.
Don’t worry about these questions too much as even if you get them both wrong you’ll only get a minor fault against you and you can not fail the test as a result of that.

If you would like to see a full list of the questions that you maybe asked, then visit my website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk and visit the Practical section of the site where you will find the link to the Show Me Tell Me page.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

I have recently put up a Facebook page for my driving school. You can find it by clicking on this link… HERE!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

As from 6th of April, at the start of your driving test the driving examiner will ask you whether you would like to have your driving instructor (or other person bringing you to test) accompany you on the test.
It is a good idea to have thought about this and talked it over with your instructor before you go in and meet the examiner to save too much indecision and embarrassment at a point in time that is nerve racking enough for you!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk