Category: News

Some people have the opportunity to practise between lessons (e.g. with parents). This is something that I fully encourage and, managed in the right way, will help you gain valuable driving experience, help you save money (on lessons) and mean that you could be ready for your test sooner (than if you simply relied on driving lessons).  I also think that it is useful to drive in a different car (especially if it is one that you’ll use after passing your test) and with different people. As highlighted, to complement your lessons, practice sessions need to be structured and I will happily help plan this with you.  In my experience, parents or friends may not always focus on some of the important driving disciplines (e.g. correct use of door mirrors, blind spot checks or the key observation points during manoeuvres) or have an out of date view of driving techniques so it is important that you don’t lose the disciplines you’ve learnt in your lessons during practice sessions.  To help, I am happy to meet with the person who would be sitting next to you (to give them some guidance) and, with your consent, they could even sit in the back of the car for part of one of your lessons. If you are a student (whose parents do not live in Nottingham) and plan to practise with a parent when you go home, I am happy to have a chat with your parent (by phone) if you feel this would be beneficial.

Please note that, if practising in a private car, you will need to be insured. While some parents may seek to add you to their insurance, it can be better to take out insurance in your own name (i.e. not effecting your parents’ insurance policy). For more details visit my post about insurance.

Please also see an updated article which covers the legal requirement for supervision of a learner.

We will develop a plan of activity required in the month leading up to your test. This is tailored to individual needs but will generally include a mock test, cover areas of weakness or where confidence is lacking, practise manoeuvres, refresh the emergency stop routine and regularly cover all the Show Me questions (as well as introduce the Tell Me questions). It is also important to have a chat about the day of the test so that you are fully briefed on what to expect on the day. It is inevitable that you will be nervous on the day of your test (and during the days leading up top it) so we’ll also chat about ways to deal with those nerves. For more information, have a read through the Driving Test page on this website.

DVSA have added 23 new hazard perception clips to cover the hazards faced in snow, rain, fog and wind (as well as driving conditions at dusk and dawn).

Three examples of clips are shown below:-

Driving in the snow

Driving in heavy rain

Driving in the dark

More details of the changes to the hazard perception test can be found on the .gov.uk website.

Source: DVSA from gov.uk website

I encourage all of my learners to have at least one lesson in the evening (when it is dark) to gain some experience of driving in the dark. However, I do not feel that this should be planned until there is sufficient competence in the basic skills (when driving in the daylight).

During the spring and summer months, I have regular evening lessons (often with learners who are not available during the day). However, as it is now getting dark before 7pm and will be dark by 5:30pm when the clocks go back at the end of the month, I am no longer taking on new pupils who only want evening lessons. Therefore, I will now have more availability in the evenings for my learners who want a session of driving in the dark.

At the moment, businesses using your personal data must comply with the Data Protection Act. From 25th May, this Act is being replaced by a new law (which is being introduced across all EU countries) called, General Data Protection Regulation.

Like other business, I have been taking the opportunity to review how I collect, use, generate and hold any data that I have about people taking driving lessons with me and have developed a Privacy Policy that explains this is more detail.

A summary of my approach is covered in a Privacy Notice (which is being sent to all my current learners today).

My terms of business for lessons have been amended to reflect this new policy (these terms are reviewed and updated periodically and the latest version and reasons for changes are detailed on that page).

The test centre at Chilwell is located at Unit 24, Eldon Business Park on Eldon Road (having been relocated from the Beeston Test Centre in late 2016). The entrance road to the test centre (off Eldon Road) is shared with other business and leads to a small car park outside the entrance to the building.  There are seven bays to park in at the test centre. Five bays are directly opposite the entrance to the test centre (positioned on the right hand side as you drive in) with a further two bays providing an option to park on the left. The two bays on the left are perpendicular to the other five bays but are not a good option for people who use the “Three Line” method of bay parking. The two bays on their own are also contained by a kerb, which means that parking needs to be very accurate as there is very small room for error.  Interestingly, the seven bays provided are not equally sized with the widest bay being almost 10% wider than the narrowest bay!

As there are usually other learners arriving at the test centre to take tests at the same time (often at the same time as learners returning to the car park at the end of their test), the car park can be quite congested at times.

The waiting room (with plenty of chairs) is on the ground floor of the building opposite the main parking bays. There is one toilet next to the waiting room for use by learners/instructors. Given that instructors are not allowed to bring their learners to the test centre more than 10 minutes before the test time, this means that there could be several learners and their instructors needing the toilet at the same time!

Leaving the test centre car park leads you back to a traffic light controlled crossroads. You need to be careful as the road leading to the traffic lights can get congested with business vans and lorries. If turning right at the traffic lights, there are no markings in the middle to indicate where to wait (for any oncoming traffic), so it is useful to view this junction before your test. From those traffic lights, test routes can go in several directions (towards Long Eaton, Breaston, Toton, Stapleford, Sandiacre and Risley or towards Attenborough, Beeston, Bramcote, Dunkirk, Lenton and Wollaton).

Like most test centres, Chilwell has several different test routes. These routes are updated from time to time but are not published. While it is not sensible to prepare for a test by simply travelling around/trying to memorise test routes, it is helpful to be familiar with the general test area as it includes many multiple lane and busy roundabouts (notably Bramcote Island, Bardills Roundabout and the roundabout at M1 J25) as well as several quirky roads/junctions (including roads that are shared with tram lines, one way roads, no entry roads and traffic lights with left filter arrows).

If you are not familiar with the Chilwell Test Centre area and have a test booked there, you might want to consider booking a lesson or two with me to explore some of the test area. Please be aware that, while I do not provide my car for use at a test for people who have already booked a test, I do offer a mock test service (subject to mutual availability). If you are interested, please contact me using my contact form, by telephone or send me a message (text or WhatsApp) using any of the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Like most test centres, Watnall has about 25 different test routes. Routes are not published and are updated from time to time. While it is not sensible to prepare for a test by simply travelling around/trying to memorise test routes, it is helpful to be familiar with the general test area as it includes many quirky roads (like one-way systems in Hucknall) and junctions (with STOP or No Entry signs) and, especially, Nuthall Roundabout. This roundabout looks very complex but is traffic light controlled from all but one direction and is remarkably easy to travel around with a bit of practise (providing you understand the lane disciplines required from each direction) and is far easier than some of the roundabouts experienced on some of the routes from the test centre at Chilwell).

If you are not familiar with the Watnall Test Centre area and have a test booked there, you might want to consider booking a lesson or two with me to explore some of the test area. Please be aware that, while I do not provide my car for use at a test for people who have already booked a test, I do offer a mock test service (subject to mutual availability). If you are interested, please contact me using my contact form, by telephone or send me a message (text or WhatsApp) using any of the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Like most test centres, Colwick has about 25 different test routes. Routes published on the Internet for Colwick are out of date (published before major changes to the test format in 2017). Current routes are not published and are updated from time to time. While it is not sensible to prepare for a test by simply travelling around/trying to memorise test routes, it is helpful to be familiar with the general test area as it often includes many quirky roads and junctions.

If you are not familiar with the Colwick Test Centre area and have a test booked there, you might want to consider booking a lesson or two with me to explore some of the test area. Please be aware that, while I do not provide my car for use at a test for people who have already booked a test, I do offer a mock test service (subject to mutual availability). If you are interested, please contact me using my contact form, by telephone or send me a message (text or WhatsApp) using any of the contact details at the bottom of this page.