Appealing against driving test fail....

[matt_vaughan]

Right, took driving test today. failed.

I was failed on hesitation, and looking back I can probably guess what occurancies caused it.

One was when I was coming to a roundabout and police car coming down right hand lane. Instead of pulling out I held back to make sure he didnt want to cut back in front of me.

The second was a situation where I was trying to pull out into traffic at a junction. There was a yellow crossed box (no stopping in box type) and I had a van blocking my view. I would have cosidered it dangerous and inconsiderate of other road users to just pull out.

The third I can think of was on a two lane bypass road, I was coming up behind a BMW in inside lane travelling around ~50 mph. I had a bike in the outside lane gaining on me, however I couldn't judge the speed as I was trying to concentrate on the moron in the beemer, so I didnt pull out. I noticed once I had done after the bike had passed that she put a tick in the same box as the others.

Unfotunately she had her boss assessing her at the time. Firstly this caused her to be super stringent and very "tick happy" as my instructor put it, and he was also a massive distraction to myself as a lot of the time all I could see in the Rear View Mirror was his face and him looking at me because he was leaning to the middle of the car to see what was happening all the time.

Do you rekon I have grounds to appeal against this?

[loggyboy]

Might as well, not gonna loose anything by doing it.

[Lee]

I dont see how you would have just failed from that as a hesitation is a minor fault IIRC.

But as far as I know you can't appeal unless the examiner has blatantly failed you for no reason, and if you do it will probably take longer to get a result than it would to rebook your test and take it again.

I checked where you were from as well, in case you got my stepdad lol. He's getting a reputation of being the examiner no one wants to get lol

[Adam]

Personally id say balls to it, and get another test booked.

[chimp007_uk]

I appealled a driving test fail, the examinar (an elderly chap) kept falling asleep... Can't remember what i failed on it was something silly. Appealled it and got a free retest, but was 8weeks later :( passed. But i know what you're 17 etc you want to get out and drive, and 8weeks was ages.

As my nan always says... "everything happens for a reason..."

[Andy]

I wouldnt bother wasting your time,the decision is final,if you win the appeal you wont "pass" you just get a retest for free

[chimp007_uk]

Book another test... And appeal... ;)

[matt_vaughan]

Book another test... And appeal... ;)

Think I'm going to rebook tonight, click that I can take cancellations and appeal.

[Jack]

If the guy in the back kept distracting you, I think you've got good grounds for appeal, but proving it could be hard.

Meh, you'll have far worse distractions than that when you do get out on the roads on your own.

In a way, I'd quite like to have a go at the driving test again nowadays. I passed mine first time, and everyone I know my age either passed first or second time - and if they failed once its through making some dippy fault. Yet everyone these days seems to be failing multiple times, heck Alex failed hers 6 or 7 times!! Apparently its always on trivial things too (admittedly a few of her fails were on blatant errors of judgment or not obeying the rules of the road, but still)

[matt_vaughan]

RJ i thought I'd failed right at the start, stalled on uphill clutch controlled start, feckin diseasels, and turned out got minor for it, but I thought I had failed tbh, was surprised to find out I actually failed for bloody hesitation.

[Lee]

stalled on uphill clutch controlled start, feckin diseasels,
This statement makes no sense lol

[Jack]

Stalling isn't a fail, its how you handle it that decides pass/fail :p

Hesitation is a bit of a pooper to fail on, I think I got one minor on my test for that, but was aware at the time I hesitated. Harsh to be failed on it though - did you say at the time why you were waiting (as in "I'm just going to wait for that car because...")? I was told to say things like that when I did mine, in case the examiner doesn't realise why you're doing something.

[Ernie]

I passed my test when i was 17 and cars had square wheels lol.
I even got away with reverseing around a corner then parked it on the bloody kerb.
I think because i just got on with it and didnt panic i passed.
Good luck for the next one.

[Riggy]

lol i thought id failed mine when he said take the 3 exit on the roundabout ,

me completly misses it and goe's **** i missed it ill go round again , ****ing stupid dick shoots across roundabout , i did my emergency stop mid roundabout lol , just got on with it though and i passed

[Benn]

Dude no point, you'll have to pay again for the retest so...

I fail once cause i stop cause a car was turning in front of me, and a guy walked across the road.. i was told i let the man out and it was unsafe..

I was annoyed i almost got a brain tumer.

[Adam]

I failed my 1st for leaving one wheel touching the edge of the white line on the bay park :roll:

[matt_vaughan]

It really pissed me off really cause I actually drove perfectly as far as I'm concearned and OK i was giving a little more caution than usual but everyone does in the test.

I think the examiner's boss assessing her had something to do with a lot of it.

[large_steve182]

unless you were driving like an epileptic in a disco it is very harsh to fail on hesitation alone. if anything showing more caution would be better drive as it shows your thinking about the safety of yourself and other road users (obviously not to extremes though)

i have a stoner friend who almost failed his theory for putting his name down wrong. his name is kevin but we have called him smiley for well over 10 years and his theory test he put his name down as smiley.
IDIOT

[Tidy Max]

3 minors does count as a major, i got 2 minors on my test, both of which were indicator minors, and i say one of those of definately harsh! and i dont even know why i got the other :S

[Pistol Pete]

So many people seem to fail on hesitation. A mate of mine failed his for it, the g/f did, i have heard of others aswell. Bit harsh to fail over somethong like that TBH.

Its not a nice feeling, suck it up and good luck for your retest.

[brainsnova]

id just book it as an appeal may piss the examiners off but kick up fuk after you pass. Sounds like your a good driver so id say the mongo in the back caused the examiner to be strict.

[matt_vaughan]

Yep, putting it down to the "mongo".

Cheers for good luck pete.

Manage to get a retest on 24th, so only 2 week wait. Had to get up at 6.40 in morning to check the times cause the bookings go like hot cakes. Glad I did though. Dont think I could stand another 5 weeks or so of battling with rust on the Nova without driving it. Battery's flat and it's running on vapour lol

[DaveyLC]

Its a hard judgement to make, everyone feels hard done by when they fail.. To be honest is it worth taking all the time for the appeal when you can just get on with it and book another test?

[meritlover]

just dry your eyes and re-book your test.
if you fail with an examiner in the back, what chance of you got being a competent driver when you've got your mates in the back??

same can be said for hesitation, if you cant judge speed/distance (one of the fundamentals of driving) regardless whether you blame another road user or not its a fail. hesitation can cause more accidents/ confusion than a defined, confident action....so thats why....
its not like your appealing over things that didnt happen. you've actually agreed with everything that you failed for.(and justifed her/your own actions to yourself)
so what chance have you got? im pretty sure you can specifically request that its only you and the examiner in the car. and refuse another passenger.

its almost a certainty that your test will be harder (or less lenient) if its an appeal. its not like all the examiners dont talk to each other about it, theyll stick up for each other so they dont look like it was them to blame.

as for being 'tick-happy' thats the way they do it. if they only ticked when you did something wrong or right then it would give away the outcome too early, many examiners are writing notes continuosly anyway (also counts as evidence if you do appeal)


as DaveyLC says, everyone feels hard done by when they fail.

sucks to be you:thumb:

[draper]

sucks to be you:thumb:

:cry: lol

[matt_vaughan]

meritlover I get your point and No im not appealing, its her word against mine.

However, my problem was with the fact I believe that on some occasions she was oblivious to why I was being so cautious.

A test is hardly ever a reflection of a driver's ability or attitude, due to test pressure and "on the spot situations". In that instance I was a lot more cautious than usual, resulting in a fail. An absolutely crap driver could go into the test, ace it, then drive like a dick for years later.

I'm not appealing because I have a retest booked in two weeks, and it would take much longer to appeal.

[mowgli]

I failed my first hgv test cos some pillock in a danish bacon delivery van tried to push me off the road during the going up & down the gears excercise, the instructor had said that if there is any form of hazard, you must continue in the same gear & at the same speed till the person goes away, I was down this little country lane & doing about 25mph when he came flying up behind me & started honking & flashing, then tried the grass verge overtake.....it cost me £hundreds & I have never bought danish bacon since

[Rickyb]

hesitation once is a minor if you do it 2 or 3 times it becomes major but as for trying to appeal theres no real point because theres not a judge in the country that could change that fail so put your bottom lip in son and get it done :thumb: