At some point, we have all said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
This was definitely the case for Sandra Tomlinson, as she failed her driving test 11 times before finally passing her 12th attempt.
Sandra believes she spent over £6000 on driving lessons in London with several driving instructors before coming to driveJohnson’s and finally passing her test. She also spent approximately £750 on practical tests with the DVSA.
We contacted Sandra after she passed her test and asked her about her recipe for failure and success. Thankfully, she was more than happy to share her story with us as she wants to help other drivers avoid the same pitfalls she did.
What went wrong
“When I started looking for an instructor, I decided to call an intensive course company that wanted a hefty upfront payment. They said they could get me passed quickly, so that was music to my ears.
“After paying them, they went quiet on me, and after four weeks, they eventually found me an instructor. I completed my 40 hours with the instructor, and the night before my test, I received a text saying that my instructor couldn’t make my test. I was furious, but luckily, I found an instructor who could take me on short notice. When I took my test, I failed miserably as I amassed 20 driver faults. I failed because of the stress I found myself in when looking for a new instructor, and I was forced to take it in a car that I was unfamiliar with.
“I also discovered halfway through my 40-hour driving course that my instructor didn’t know the test centre. He wasn’t even local to the area, and the company I booked with subcontracts their pupils out to instructors they didn’t even know. It might explain why we spent many lessons driving around with the sat nav on, going to the same places and ending up in dead ends.
“After failing my first attempt, I found a local instructor through Facebook. He seemed nice at the beginning. However, he kept shouting at me as I got closer to my test. On the plus side, he did show me the test routes and the areas around my test centre. I failed my second, third and fourth tests with this instructor due to my nerves when having lessons with him before he basically lost the plot with me one day and called me stupid.
“After failing my test four times, I wondered if I would ever pass my driving test. I contemplated giving up entirely, as even my friends were wondering if I was destined to fail, but a friend in a similar situation got me in touch with the instructor she passed with. Again, they were another local driving instructor and worked independently, meaning he could work around my times and needs.
“They were local and had excellent knowledge of the local area. I informed them that I had failed four times and that I needed to do something to help build my confidence, but their philosophy was different. They got me a test within three weeks of learning with them, and I ultimately failed this. I felt that when I was in test conditions, my confidence and skills would always fail me and cause me to make silly and avoidable mistakes.
“After I had failed my fifth test, I wanted to attempt some mock tests to see where I was going wrong. The issue with this is that my instructor was very old school and wouldn’t carry out mock tests. He believed you should learn more than just the test routes but how to drive confidently on all roads. I can completely get behind this philosophy. However, I was comfortable on most roads and struggled when carrying out test scenarios. Due to not taking any mock tests, when it came to my sixth and seventh tests, I again failed, and it was again because I was unused to being in the test condition with the pressure that you face.
“Once I failed my seventh test, I again wanted another change and sought out the help of another local instructor. This time, the instructor I chose to learn with was a close family friend who did this part-time but helped many people pass every year. I was instantly comfortable learning with her as I had known her all my life. My lessons were at a lower rate and started off great. I found that because we knew each other, we would find ourselves just driving around and gossiping about irrelevant subjects. Whilst it was good at calming my nerves, it didn’t help me develop my skills. Also, due to her being part-time, she was often late to start our lessons or needed to finish the lesson early. This meant that I was only having around forty minutes of lessons a week where, for the most part, we would be simply driving and talking. When it came to my test, I failed as I was uncomfortable driving for longer than my lessons usually were and was out of practice with my manoeuvers.
“After trying local driving instructors, I opted to learn with a national driving school. When I contacted them, I informed them that I had had over 80 hours of lessons. They were able to pair me with someone who could work with me to develop my skills and help grow my confidence. This changed when my lessons began, as I was brought right back to learning like a beginner. I spent the majority of my lessons learning from diagrams whilst stationary and was being briefed as I had done previously. Again, I found myself relearning my skills but not placing these all together in a test scenario.
“I was comfortable with the individual parts of my learning, but I couldn’t adapt to putting these into practice regarding my driving test. Due to being unable to adjust to placing all of these into one session, I failed my ninth and tenth tests with them. I found the instructor’s knowledge incredible and learned how to improve in certain areas. I didn’t feel listened to by the driving instructor and only struggled when in test conditions.
“Once I failed my tenth test, I took a month off from learning to drive and regathered my thoughts. When I decided to start learning to drive again, I typed in driving lessons in London into Google and came across driveJohnson’s. I phoned them and asked if they could help and thankfully they could. They partnered me with a great instructor who worked with me to help me pass.
“In the run-up to my eleventh test, I carried out several mock driving tests that helped me to gain confidence. On my mock tests, I grew in confidence with every session and got to a point where I passed easily. I failed my eleventh driving test with three minor faults and one major fault. It was my closest test to date, and failed due to a lack of concentration at the end.
“My instructor was in the back seat and saw where I went wrong. I am so thankful she was in the back to witness this, as it meant we could hit the ground running the following week. We spent the next five lessons taking mock tests and working on scenarios where I could work on my concentration and anticipation. Thanks to my instructor, I was able to pass my test on my twelfth attempt and couldn’t have been happier.
“When it comes to learning, the best thing I found was that you need to learn with an instructor that puts you first. If you aren’t entirely comfortable with them or find that your instructor is longing out your lessons for more money, you may need to rethink your instructor.”
We are so happy that Sandra chose to take her lessons with us and that we were able to help her pass her driving test. We have driving instructors across the country who are experts at helping learners pass their driving tests when they have failed multiple times. If you need help with passing your driving test, get in touch, and we can find the perfect instructor to help you pass.
Written by Sandra Tomlinson
Passed with us in London
3 Minor Faults
