Category - Driving Tests

Chalfont Drive Test Centre Is Moving!

06/01/2015
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, DSA

This is a really, really, REALLY old story from November 2012. This update is from late 2021, as a result of a run of hits on the article.

When Chalfont closed, tests were variously conducted over a couple of years from Colwick, Beeston (near the train station), Chilwell (from The Village Hotel), Clifton (on the Trent University campus), Clarendon Street (Trent University campus), and Watnall (the old LGV testing station).

As of 2021, test locations have been stable for several years and located at Colwick, Chilwell (Eldon Road, just behind the Village Hotel used before this facility opened), and Watnall.

This article (below) is now summarised from the original sequence of will-it-won’t it relocations in 2012 and 2013.

The DVSA had to vacate the Chalfont Drive location as the lease had run out (the entire site, which housed many government offices, is now deserted). They seemed to have left it a little late to start looking for a new location, and for a short time tests moved to Watnall and the DVLA local offices (which have now also closed).

DVSA announced that a new centre would open on the Beeston Business Park in the Rylands before the contract had been finalised. As a result, the whole deal almost fell through when the area was inundated with idiot ADIs conducting their lessons in the Rylands (in actual fact, no test routes cover the Rylands, and there is a notice up in the test centre waiting room informing instructors of this fact as a result of complaints by residents).

Anyway, to cut a long and very confusing story short, the Beeston Test Centre began operating in June 2013. And after the closure of the Clarendon Street trial, tests have once again started being conducted out of Watnall.

Driving School of Mum and Dad

31/12/2014
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, News, Training

Surrey and Hampshire News (an outfit that obviously can’t afford a real web server for its publication, because this story is no longer available after less than two weeks) reckons that only 1 in 3 learners are taking lessons with qualified instructors, opting instead to be taught by family members.

I’m not sure I trust their figures. If nothing else, they fail to follow up on all those who start out with the cheaper option, then end up failing their tests and have to go to a proper instructor for remedial training later. Perhaps the quoted figure by MoneySuperMarket – that is costs “a whopping” £1,128 to learn to drive with an ADI – reflects this?

You see, £1,128 would equate to around 50 hours of lessons (well, 45 hours, plus the theory test and practical test fees) using my hourly rates. During this last year I’ve had one pupil do it in 14½ hours, and many others manage well under 40 hours, and I can’t see how or why this should be much different elsewhere if the training is up to scratch. In fact, what I think we’re starting to see is the effect of cheap lessons – the story and MoneySuperMarket only seem concerned about that, anyway – and the resulting quality issues.

I lost count long ago of the number of people who had been “taught” by mum or dad, or by a cheaper instructor, but who subsequently realised they weren’t getting anywhere. The biggest problem in most cases was getting rid of their appallingly bad habits.

Driving Tests And Snow 2014/15

27/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests, DVSA, Training

It’s started! We’ve had snow, and people are already looking on the internet to see if their test is going ahead or not! This happens every year, though I suppose it’s understandable because it’s a new crop of young people who are involved each time.Snow is dangerous - tests are cancelled because of it

It’s very simple:

  • if there is snow or ice on the roads your test could easily be cancelled
  • it is common for morning tests to be cancelled, but later ones to go ahead after the weather improves
  • it can work the other way round if the weather deteriorates after a bright start
  • the test centre’s decision is made as late as possible to avoid unnecessary cancellations
  • if weather is very bad then longer term decisions can be made by the test centre
  • you WILL NOT find out if your test is cancelled on the internet
  • you WILL find out if you phone the test centre and ask
  • I said the test centre, not DVSA head office – it could be -20°C where you are, and +15°C at head office
  • the test centre phone number is usually on the email you received when you booked your test
  • if you don’t have the test centre number, your instructor should have it
  • you MUST turn up unless you have spoken with the test centre on the phone and they’ve told you your test is off
  • you DO NOT have to pay for another test if DVSA calls it off
  • you WILL have to pay if you just don’t turn up

Remember that just because you’ve been waiting for months for your test does not mean you will be given any special priority. Snow and ice is extremely dangerous and most learners have never driven in it. For that reason tests are routinely cancelled if roads are bad. Examiners are not going to take risks – and nor should anyone expect them to.

In Nottingham, the phone number for Beeston test centre is 0115 922 9458. The phone number for Colwick MPTC is 0115 961 1593. The phone number for Clifton test centre is the same as for Colwick. I do not know the number for Watnall as I haven’t used it yet.

Just for information, I wrote the above on Saturday – the day after it snowed. At Colwick, all tests were cancelled yesterday (Monday). So far, all the morning ones today (Tuesday) are cancelled. Mine was one of them. If anything, it was colder Tuesday than Monday (still -2°C at 10.00am),

The Colwick test centre car park is covered in snow and ice, and bay lines are not clearly visible. The driveway, which is on a slope, is also icy. The roads on the Colwick industrial estate are compacted sheet ice in the shadows where the sun doesn’t get on them. Almost all side roads on the surrounding residential areas are in a similar condition. There are random patches of ice at junctions where dolts who have not cleared snow off their cars have dropped it when they’ve braked hard. Even if any of this melts by late afternoon, it freezes up again overnight and takes until midday to start melting again.

Anyone who blames the DVSA for playing safe and cancelling tests in these conditions is an arsehole.

A Nice Touch From The Examiners

22/12/2014
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, DVSA

At the Beeston test centre today, all the examiners came out wearing identical reindeer sweaters. I thought that was a really nice touch. They’re all really nice people up there, and a real credit to the DVSA.Christmas Baubles

Unfortunately, my pupil failed, bringing my recent run of six passes on the trot to an end. Just one more test to go before Christmas.

DVSA Gipsy Lane Leicester Test Centre Moving

18/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests, DVSA

An email alert from DVSA advises that next year – no dates given yet, though somewhere between January and March is mooted – Leicester’s Gipsy Lane test centre will close and tests will relocate to the ex-VOSA building on Cannock Street. Driving tests should be booked as normal in the meantime. The new location (or old, depending on how you look at it) will be refurbished before tests move there.

I’m sure the usual vipers will see something negative in this. However, since DSA and VOSA merged to become DVSA, having separate facilities would be stupid, and the new location is less than 2 miles away from the old (existing) one.

As an update to this, DVSA is asking for feedback on the move. I don’t think they want to know if you like the idea, but rather what your views would be on a gradual switch.

Obviously, only those who use the test centre really ought to be completing the questionnaire.

And in a further update, the majority favoured a straight switch rather than a phased one. The switch will occur between 3-9 February 2015. An Open Day will be arranged prior to the switch.

And one more update advises that there will be an open day on Friday, 6 February 2015 between 10am and 2pm.

Test Pass: 13/12/2014

16/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests

TickWell done Catriona, who passed today with 6 driver faults. She rounds off a great week – six tests, and six passes.

Cat has learnt a lot during her lessons with me. Most notably, the concept of the “sense of humour”. I remember when I was teaching her to reverse round a corner early on, and she had a habit of steering the wrong way. One time I saw where her hands had moved to on the steering wheel and said “if you steer that way you’re walking home”. Cat is (or was) one of those deadpan people who takes things very literally, and the possibility that I might not have been serious did not enter her head. Sarcasm – one of my favourite teaching tools – was anathema to her. Not any more, though. She gives as good as she gets.

She’s already signed up for Pass Plus.

Test Pass: 12/12/2014

13/12/2014
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests

TickWell done Eileen, who passed today first time with just 3 driver faults. This is a classic example of why you should never write someone off – and how wrong you can be if you do.

Eileen is very nervous, and following my suggestion some months ago has been using beta-blockers on her lessons (after a visit to her GP). They have had a positive effect, but there is no “magic pill” that can turn someone into a brilliant driver. And certainly not overnight.

I had stopped her from taking a previously booked test because I thought she was dangerous. But I have to be honest in that I also wanted her to cancel this one on her last normal lesson because I was really worried about her nerves and how she would react on the driving test. I insisted that I sit in the back in case the test was abandoned – I honestly thought that it was a possibility – and I had advised her to be prepared for the possibility of things going wrong. She knew this, of course. That’s why she had gone to her GP in the first place, and she told me that the nerves came and went unpredictably in other aspects of her life.

It was one of the best drives I have ever seen anyone produce, on test or off it. When the examiner told her she’d passed – and I knew she had from what I’d seen even before he announced it – I had tears in my eyes. The three faults were all for the same thing, and they came early on, but she got into the swing and didn’t make the same mistake again.

So it just goes to show how wrong you can be. Anyone on the outside looking in would have probably said she wasn’t ready. Indeed, I saw a forum thread recently with precisely that topic, where people were lambasting someone who had taken a candidate to test who he said wasn’t up to standard. To be fair, that instructor hadn’t done himself any favours in how he put the story across, but it did illustrate clearly how the only person who knows the candidate is the instructor who taught them – and the information probably ought not to be passed to others for their opinions. Outsiders can usually only advise based on grudges and sections from the Great Big Handbook Of Finding Fault With Others.

I was completely wrong about Eileen. I’m happy to admit it. And I’ve learnt something: don’t be too hasty consigning pupils to the metaphorical scrapheap.

Hopefully, this tale will help others learn, too, before they start shooting their mouths off.

And Eileen’s pass brings my tally to five out of five for the week.

Test Pass: 11/12/2014

11/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests

TickWell done Jim, who passed today using his own car. I’m still claiming it because I taught him, and he only went in his own vehicle because he wanted to take his test earlier than my diary would permit (in fact, I had another test at the same time).

Test Pass: 11/12/2014

11/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests

TickWell done Virash, who passed today with just 2 driver faults. A very quiet and reserved lad, but a very good driver who deserved to pass.

He was so good, in fact, that I insisted he didn’t do as many lessons as he wanted in the run up to his test.

Test Pass: 9/12/2014

11/12/2014
DOAADI
Driving Tests

TickWell done Abdul, who passed this week with 7 river faults. A very nice guy who is a student at Nottingham University.

A problem we had trouble solving was shoulder checks during manoeuvres. Amazing how that suggestion to “kiss both parrots” fixed it in an instant after everything else had failed!