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There was 2003 - a year of so-many things-going-wrong I was more than just 'happy' to wave goodbye to, back on New Year's Eve. Then, comes 2004 - the year promising so-much; a year (up until Tuesday) that had started off better than I could've really hoped.
Everything was going well. No, everything was going GREAT, infact!
No matter what it was, I wasn't dissapointed. So-much had changed; I had so-much to look-forward to...
That was, of course, until this Tuesday, when everything took a sudden slip back in the direction of `The Worst´. You see, attempt No.3 at my practical driving test had finally come-around (after a good 2-months on the waiting-list!), at 13.33pm; it was time for me to do what I had been unable to do twice-before...
In the lessons leading up until my third-attempt, I had been, to put it simply, quite the "safe, considerate and cautious driver they award Passing certificates to". I may've stalled the vehicle once, but I was no longer making the silly mistakes that had let me down in the past (mainly caused by rushing things and not thinking them through). I was driving better than I had ever driven before. I had the right level of confidence balanaced against the positive-thinking, and, you had to ask yourself the question: "How was I NOT going to pass, this time?!?"
...And, in all truthfulness, I do not know WHY I was failed, this time. She did briefly explain it to me at the end, and it was only the one-thing I did "wrong". But, I've explained it to my instructor; I've explained it to other people; and yet, nobody has been able to come-up with anything that explains how it could've been seen as the "Serious Fault" that gave me a third-succesive `F´. But, that's why I'm posting this here; so I can get your views to see whether YOU think it was worth me failing my driving test, or not. It's not `easy´ to explain without diagrams and that, but I'll give it my best-shot:
It came at a double-mini roundabout in a place where "If you can drive here, you can drive anywhere!" [Southmead, Bristol]. There was me at my starting point; looking to turn-right. And, approaching the system opposite me (at a fair old speed, too), also looking to turn-right, was one of those burger-van-sized vans. He didn't look like he was gonna slow-down and obey the law, but, since I was there a good few seconds before he was, and it was all-clear besides the 2 of us, I decided to move onto the system, to the give-way point in the middle (positioned just right-of-centre, of course). Nothing wrong there.
As I had assumed, he didn't stop - or, even, slow-down too much, for that matter. Around he came, treating the conjoined roundabouts like a whole one. Because he had moved, I couldn't (he was blocking my exit). I, however, was not blocking his. So, as he moved around behind me, and it became clear [not just "clear-enough"] ahead of me, I moved-on and made that right-turn.
And, in-time, he got to where he wanted to go, also. However, he did have to slow down a little... But, if you were driving a "small-but-big" lorry/van-thing, travelling around a double-MINI roundabout system at a speed that to few-others, wouldn't you, just, HAVE to slow-down, so that you didn't go meandering off to the side??
I get to the end of my test (which, by the way, went better than I could've ever imagined), and she tells me I've failed, because of this one "incident". I "should've given way to him", she says... What, even though I was there first?? Van-drivers DON'T have priority over all others, you know! Had it been an articulate lorry or something, clearly, I'd have understood... But, no, she fails me on my "observation" (as the `S´ box was ticked by).
Yet, there was nothing wrong with my "observation". I saw him coming. I decided it was safe to move onto the give-way line (which it was). It WASN'T my fault he had to slow-down. I was positioned very well - where I should've been. And, because these things are designed as-well as they are, so long as all drivers take care, no-bad can come from it. ...And I wasn't the one acting a little "careless".
What I find very odd, though, is how she - the same fat, old, miserable cow who failed me in my second test - reacted after she'd given me the result. She told me I "should've given way"; she handed me a copy of the test-paper; and then, before my instructor even got the chance to here her explanation - she was gone!
Gone like the wind! Fast than the wind! (A very, VERY, fat wind...)
Why did she take-off so-fast? Maybe fat people have a "sixth-sense" for these things, but I could not smell any pie in the oven. Normally - like what had happened in my last-two tests - she'd ask if I wanted my instructor to hear. But, no. She didn't even do that! Perhaps it was because I shouted "Oh, fugg-off!!" when she "explained" why... Then again, she deserved it! Giving my directions less-than-5m-away from the up-and-coming junction or roundabout. Being a miserable sod for the whole 40 minutes, not saying a world. Marking one of my initial 2 questions 'wrong' when I had already given her the right-answer - twice!
I'm not happy. Everything was going really well, and then this. So-much promise and hope for what I'd finally be able to do with a driving license and a car sitting on my front-drive that barely gets used... And, so it seems, things just haven't changed for-the-better as much as I had originaly thought. A huge stump to my grown confidence (as a driver); a middle-finger raised to anyone behind the DVLA and their "schemes" to keep more drivers off the road and put more money in their pockets!
And now, it looks as though I'll waiting 'til April (almost ANOTHER 2-months, there!!) just to take (and, possibly FAIL) it, all-over-again. Failing it for no-reason is bad-enough; but these huge waiting-lists do not help. It'll be at a different, "easier" test-centre next-time, though (Weston-super-Mare - unless I get a sooner cancellation). I know so-many people who have tried and failed at Southmead... I just wanted to be the first one to actually pass there.... But, no. I'm not going back if I can help it. Not while there's still every-chance I'll get ``Satan's Sister-in-law´´ again! :P
Believe me; I'd appeal if I thought it was worth it! However, you cannot have your result changed. At best, you'll get your money back. And, anyway; with the time it'd take to go through the Majistrate's Court and everything, I reckon I'm better off waiting 'til April, anyway. You HAVE to take the test again, no matter what. And I doubt they'd be able to look at her performance "in general" to decide it was quite worth a refund.
So, do you think it was right for me to be failed for it, or not?
Are examiners really out to get me (and, the rest of us Learners)??
Anyone else been hard-done-by, like this?
Everything was going well. No, everything was going GREAT, infact!
No matter what it was, I wasn't dissapointed. So-much had changed; I had so-much to look-forward to...
That was, of course, until this Tuesday, when everything took a sudden slip back in the direction of `The Worst´. You see, attempt No.3 at my practical driving test had finally come-around (after a good 2-months on the waiting-list!), at 13.33pm; it was time for me to do what I had been unable to do twice-before...
In the lessons leading up until my third-attempt, I had been, to put it simply, quite the "safe, considerate and cautious driver they award Passing certificates to". I may've stalled the vehicle once, but I was no longer making the silly mistakes that had let me down in the past (mainly caused by rushing things and not thinking them through). I was driving better than I had ever driven before. I had the right level of confidence balanaced against the positive-thinking, and, you had to ask yourself the question: "How was I NOT going to pass, this time?!?"
...And, in all truthfulness, I do not know WHY I was failed, this time. She did briefly explain it to me at the end, and it was only the one-thing I did "wrong". But, I've explained it to my instructor; I've explained it to other people; and yet, nobody has been able to come-up with anything that explains how it could've been seen as the "Serious Fault" that gave me a third-succesive `F´. But, that's why I'm posting this here; so I can get your views to see whether YOU think it was worth me failing my driving test, or not. It's not `easy´ to explain without diagrams and that, but I'll give it my best-shot:
It came at a double-mini roundabout in a place where "If you can drive here, you can drive anywhere!" [Southmead, Bristol]. There was me at my starting point; looking to turn-right. And, approaching the system opposite me (at a fair old speed, too), also looking to turn-right, was one of those burger-van-sized vans. He didn't look like he was gonna slow-down and obey the law, but, since I was there a good few seconds before he was, and it was all-clear besides the 2 of us, I decided to move onto the system, to the give-way point in the middle (positioned just right-of-centre, of course). Nothing wrong there.
As I had assumed, he didn't stop - or, even, slow-down too much, for that matter. Around he came, treating the conjoined roundabouts like a whole one. Because he had moved, I couldn't (he was blocking my exit). I, however, was not blocking his. So, as he moved around behind me, and it became clear [not just "clear-enough"] ahead of me, I moved-on and made that right-turn.
And, in-time, he got to where he wanted to go, also. However, he did have to slow down a little... But, if you were driving a "small-but-big" lorry/van-thing, travelling around a double-MINI roundabout system at a speed that to few-others, wouldn't you, just, HAVE to slow-down, so that you didn't go meandering off to the side??
I get to the end of my test (which, by the way, went better than I could've ever imagined), and she tells me I've failed, because of this one "incident". I "should've given way to him", she says... What, even though I was there first?? Van-drivers DON'T have priority over all others, you know! Had it been an articulate lorry or something, clearly, I'd have understood... But, no, she fails me on my "observation" (as the `S´ box was ticked by).
Yet, there was nothing wrong with my "observation". I saw him coming. I decided it was safe to move onto the give-way line (which it was). It WASN'T my fault he had to slow-down. I was positioned very well - where I should've been. And, because these things are designed as-well as they are, so long as all drivers take care, no-bad can come from it. ...And I wasn't the one acting a little "careless".
What I find very odd, though, is how she - the same fat, old, miserable cow who failed me in my second test - reacted after she'd given me the result. She told me I "should've given way"; she handed me a copy of the test-paper; and then, before my instructor even got the chance to here her explanation - she was gone!
Gone like the wind! Fast than the wind! (A very, VERY, fat wind...)
Why did she take-off so-fast? Maybe fat people have a "sixth-sense" for these things, but I could not smell any pie in the oven. Normally - like what had happened in my last-two tests - she'd ask if I wanted my instructor to hear. But, no. She didn't even do that! Perhaps it was because I shouted "Oh, fugg-off!!" when she "explained" why... Then again, she deserved it! Giving my directions less-than-5m-away from the up-and-coming junction or roundabout. Being a miserable sod for the whole 40 minutes, not saying a world. Marking one of my initial 2 questions 'wrong' when I had already given her the right-answer - twice!
I'm not happy. Everything was going really well, and then this. So-much promise and hope for what I'd finally be able to do with a driving license and a car sitting on my front-drive that barely gets used... And, so it seems, things just haven't changed for-the-better as much as I had originaly thought. A huge stump to my grown confidence (as a driver); a middle-finger raised to anyone behind the DVLA and their "schemes" to keep more drivers off the road and put more money in their pockets!
And now, it looks as though I'll waiting 'til April (almost ANOTHER 2-months, there!!) just to take (and, possibly FAIL) it, all-over-again. Failing it for no-reason is bad-enough; but these huge waiting-lists do not help. It'll be at a different, "easier" test-centre next-time, though (Weston-super-Mare - unless I get a sooner cancellation). I know so-many people who have tried and failed at Southmead... I just wanted to be the first one to actually pass there.... But, no. I'm not going back if I can help it. Not while there's still every-chance I'll get ``Satan's Sister-in-law´´ again! :P
Believe me; I'd appeal if I thought it was worth it! However, you cannot have your result changed. At best, you'll get your money back. And, anyway; with the time it'd take to go through the Majistrate's Court and everything, I reckon I'm better off waiting 'til April, anyway. You HAVE to take the test again, no matter what. And I doubt they'd be able to look at her performance "in general" to decide it was quite worth a refund.
So, do you think it was right for me to be failed for it, or not?
Are examiners really out to get me (and, the rest of us Learners)??
Anyone else been hard-done-by, like this?
Let that be a lesson to you. Don't drive.
At least request a different examiner the next time.
It might not work, but I would certainly appeal very strongly to cause them problems. That is of course providing that you didn't actually do anything wrong (we only heard your version remember).
It might not work, but I would certainly appeal very strongly to cause them problems. That is of course providing that you didn't actually do anything wrong (we only heard your version remember).
Waste of time appealing. What you have to remember is that the driving test is essentially the one time you have to drive by the rules. In real life we all do things which cause others to break, but in the driving test you fail automatically if anything you do causes another driver to break when they would not have to.
You even say that you saw this van, so why was it worth taking the risk of failing? That desire for a couple of seconds movement cost you the test.
Your test sounds no different to the one I did here in Nottingham, the examiner isn't there to be your new best friend, just to pass you! Swearing at people like that is likely to make them not really care...
You even say that you saw this van, so why was it worth taking the risk of failing? That desire for a couple of seconds movement cost you the test.
Your test sounds no different to the one I did here in Nottingham, the examiner isn't there to be your new best friend, just to pass you! Swearing at people like that is likely to make them not really care...
It does seem like you got a raw deal, but i think that you should appeal, as you say you cannot get the test result overturned, but your complaint may just get that tester investigated. If the test centre has as tough a reputation as you say, i think there is something fishy going on.
Bad luck.
Bad luck.
There was 2003 - a year of so-many things-going-wrong I was more than just 'happy' to wave goodbye to, back on New Year's Eve. Then, comes 2004 - the year promising so-much; a year (up until Tuesday) that had started off better than I could've really hoped.
Everything was going well. No, everything was going GREAT, infact!
No matter what it was, I wasn't dissapointed. So-much had changed; I had so-much to look-forward to...
That was, of course, until this Tuesday, when everything took a sudden slip back in the direction of `The Worst´. You see, attempt No.3 at my practical driving test had finally come-around (after a good 2-months on the waiting-list!), at 13.33pm; it was time for me to do what I had been unable to do twice-before...
In the lessons leading up until my third-attempt, I had been, to put it simply, quite the "safe, considerate and cautious driver they award Passing certificates to". I may've stalled the vehicle once, but I was no longer making the silly mistakes that had let me down in the past (mainly caused by rushing things and not thinking them through). I was driving better than I had ever driven before. I had the right level of confidence balanaced against the positive-thinking, and, you had to ask yourself the question: "How was I NOT going to pass, this time?!?"
...And, in all truthfulness, I do not know WHY I was failed, this time. She did briefly explain it to me at the end, and it was only the one-thing I did "wrong". But, I've explained it to my instructor; I've explained it to other people; and yet, nobody has been able to come-up with anything that explains how it could've been seen as the "Serious Fault" that gave me a third-succesive `F´. But, that's why I'm posting this here; so I can get your views to see whether YOU think it was worth me failing my driving test, or not. It's not `easy´ to explain without diagrams and that, but I'll give it my best-shot:
It came at a double-mini roundabout in a place where "If you can drive here, you can drive anywhere!" [Southmead, Bristol]. There was me at my starting point; looking to turn-right. And, approaching the system opposite me (at a fair old speed, too), also looking to turn-right, was one of those burger-van-sized vans. He didn't look like he was gonna slow-down and obey the law, but, since I was there a good few seconds before he was, and it was all-clear besides the 2 of us, I decided to move onto the system, to the give-way point in the middle (positioned just right-of-centre, of course). Nothing wrong there.
As I had assumed, he didn't stop - or, even, slow-down too much, for that matter. Around he came, treating the conjoined roundabouts like a whole one. Because he had moved, I couldn't (he was blocking my exit). I, however, was not blocking his. So, as he moved around behind me, and it became clear [not just "clear-enough"] ahead of me, I moved-on and made that right-turn.
And, in-time, he got to where he wanted to go, also. However, he did have to slow down a little... But, if you were driving a "small-but-big" lorry/van-thing, travelling around a double-MINI roundabout system at a speed that to few-others, wouldn't you, just, HAVE to slow-down, so that you didn't go meandering off to the side??
I get to the end of my test (which, by the way, went better than I could've ever imagined), and she tells me I've failed, because of this one "incident". I "should've given way to him", she says... What, even though I was there first?? Van-drivers DON'T have priority over all others, you know! Had it been an articulate lorry or something, clearly, I'd have understood... But, no, she fails me on my "observation" (as the `S´ box was ticked by).
Yet, there was nothing wrong with my "observation". I saw him coming. I decided it was safe to move onto the give-way line (which it was). It WASN'T my fault he had to slow-down. I was positioned very well - where I should've been. And, because these things are designed as-well as they are, so long as all drivers take care, no-bad can come from it. ...And I wasn't the one acting a little "careless".
What I find very odd, though, is how she - the same fat, old, miserable cow who failed me in my second test - reacted after she'd given me the result. She told me I "should've given way"; she handed me a copy of the test-paper; and then, before my instructor even got the chance to here her explanation - she was gone!
Gone like the wind! Fast than the wind! (A very, VERY, fat wind...)
Why did she take-off so-fast? Maybe fat people have a "sixth-sense" for these things, but I could not smell any pie in the oven. Normally - like what had happened in my last-two tests - she'd ask if I wanted my instructor to hear. But, no. She didn't even do that! Perhaps it was because I shouted "Oh, fugg-off!!" when she "explained" why... Then again, she deserved it! Giving my directions less-than-5m-away from the up-and-coming junction or roundabout. Being a miserable sod for the whole 40 minutes, not saying a world. Marking one of my initial 2 questions 'wrong' when I had already given her the right-answer - twice!
I'm not happy. Everything was going really well, and then this. So-much promise and hope for what I'd finally be able to do with a driving license and a car sitting on my front-drive that barely gets used... And, so it seems, things just haven't changed for-the-better as much as I had originaly thought. A huge stump to my grown confidence (as a driver); a middle-finger raised to anyone behind the DVLA and their "schemes" to keep more drivers off the road and put more money in their pockets!
And now, it looks as though I'll waiting 'til April (almost ANOTHER 2-months, there!!) just to take (and, possibly FAIL) it, all-over-again. Failing it for no-reason is bad-enough; but these huge waiting-lists do not help. It'll be at a different, "easier" test-centre next-time, though (Weston-super-Mare - unless I get a sooner cancellation). I know so-many people who have tried and failed at Southmead... I just wanted to be the first one to actually pass there.... But, no. I'm not going back if I can help it. Not while there's still every-chance I'll get ``Satan's Sister-in-law´´ again! :P
Believe me; I'd appeal if I thought it was worth it! However, you cannot have your result changed. At best, you'll get your money back. And, anyway; with the time it'd take to go through the Majistrate's Court and everything, I reckon I'm better off waiting 'til April, anyway. You HAVE to take the test again, no matter what. And I doubt they'd be able to look at her performance "in general" to decide it was quite worth a refund.
So, do you think it was right for me to be failed for it, or not?
Are examiners really out to get me (and, the rest of us Learners)??
Anyone else been hard-done-by, like this?
Everything was going well. No, everything was going GREAT, infact!
No matter what it was, I wasn't dissapointed. So-much had changed; I had so-much to look-forward to...
That was, of course, until this Tuesday, when everything took a sudden slip back in the direction of `The Worst´. You see, attempt No.3 at my practical driving test had finally come-around (after a good 2-months on the waiting-list!), at 13.33pm; it was time for me to do what I had been unable to do twice-before...
In the lessons leading up until my third-attempt, I had been, to put it simply, quite the "safe, considerate and cautious driver they award Passing certificates to". I may've stalled the vehicle once, but I was no longer making the silly mistakes that had let me down in the past (mainly caused by rushing things and not thinking them through). I was driving better than I had ever driven before. I had the right level of confidence balanaced against the positive-thinking, and, you had to ask yourself the question: "How was I NOT going to pass, this time?!?"
...And, in all truthfulness, I do not know WHY I was failed, this time. She did briefly explain it to me at the end, and it was only the one-thing I did "wrong". But, I've explained it to my instructor; I've explained it to other people; and yet, nobody has been able to come-up with anything that explains how it could've been seen as the "Serious Fault" that gave me a third-succesive `F´. But, that's why I'm posting this here; so I can get your views to see whether YOU think it was worth me failing my driving test, or not. It's not `easy´ to explain without diagrams and that, but I'll give it my best-shot:
It came at a double-mini roundabout in a place where "If you can drive here, you can drive anywhere!" [Southmead, Bristol]. There was me at my starting point; looking to turn-right. And, approaching the system opposite me (at a fair old speed, too), also looking to turn-right, was one of those burger-van-sized vans. He didn't look like he was gonna slow-down and obey the law, but, since I was there a good few seconds before he was, and it was all-clear besides the 2 of us, I decided to move onto the system, to the give-way point in the middle (positioned just right-of-centre, of course). Nothing wrong there.
As I had assumed, he didn't stop - or, even, slow-down too much, for that matter. Around he came, treating the conjoined roundabouts like a whole one. Because he had moved, I couldn't (he was blocking my exit). I, however, was not blocking his. So, as he moved around behind me, and it became clear [not just "clear-enough"] ahead of me, I moved-on and made that right-turn.
And, in-time, he got to where he wanted to go, also. However, he did have to slow down a little... But, if you were driving a "small-but-big" lorry/van-thing, travelling around a double-MINI roundabout system at a speed that to few-others, wouldn't you, just, HAVE to slow-down, so that you didn't go meandering off to the side??
I get to the end of my test (which, by the way, went better than I could've ever imagined), and she tells me I've failed, because of this one "incident". I "should've given way to him", she says... What, even though I was there first?? Van-drivers DON'T have priority over all others, you know! Had it been an articulate lorry or something, clearly, I'd have understood... But, no, she fails me on my "observation" (as the `S´ box was ticked by).
Yet, there was nothing wrong with my "observation". I saw him coming. I decided it was safe to move onto the give-way line (which it was). It WASN'T my fault he had to slow-down. I was positioned very well - where I should've been. And, because these things are designed as-well as they are, so long as all drivers take care, no-bad can come from it. ...And I wasn't the one acting a little "careless".
What I find very odd, though, is how she - the same fat, old, miserable cow who failed me in my second test - reacted after she'd given me the result. She told me I "should've given way"; she handed me a copy of the test-paper; and then, before my instructor even got the chance to here her explanation - she was gone!
Gone like the wind! Fast than the wind! (A very, VERY, fat wind...)
Why did she take-off so-fast? Maybe fat people have a "sixth-sense" for these things, but I could not smell any pie in the oven. Normally - like what had happened in my last-two tests - she'd ask if I wanted my instructor to hear. But, no. She didn't even do that! Perhaps it was because I shouted "Oh, fugg-off!!" when she "explained" why... Then again, she deserved it! Giving my directions less-than-5m-away from the up-and-coming junction or roundabout. Being a miserable sod for the whole 40 minutes, not saying a world. Marking one of my initial 2 questions 'wrong' when I had already given her the right-answer - twice!
I'm not happy. Everything was going really well, and then this. So-much promise and hope for what I'd finally be able to do with a driving license and a car sitting on my front-drive that barely gets used... And, so it seems, things just haven't changed for-the-better as much as I had originaly thought. A huge stump to my grown confidence (as a driver); a middle-finger raised to anyone behind the DVLA and their "schemes" to keep more drivers off the road and put more money in their pockets!
And now, it looks as though I'll waiting 'til April (almost ANOTHER 2-months, there!!) just to take (and, possibly FAIL) it, all-over-again. Failing it for no-reason is bad-enough; but these huge waiting-lists do not help. It'll be at a different, "easier" test-centre next-time, though (Weston-super-Mare - unless I get a sooner cancellation). I know so-many people who have tried and failed at Southmead... I just wanted to be the first one to actually pass there.... But, no. I'm not going back if I can help it. Not while there's still every-chance I'll get ``Satan's Sister-in-law´´ again! :P
Believe me; I'd appeal if I thought it was worth it! However, you cannot have your result changed. At best, you'll get your money back. And, anyway; with the time it'd take to go through the Majistrate's Court and everything, I reckon I'm better off waiting 'til April, anyway. You HAVE to take the test again, no matter what. And I doubt they'd be able to look at her performance "in general" to decide it was quite worth a refund.
So, do you think it was right for me to be failed for it, or not?
Are examiners really out to get me (and, the rest of us Learners)??
Anyone else been hard-done-by, like this?