Poor at Parallel Parking? Practice Precise Positioning!

It's been a while since I had anyone fail! This is a good thing of course, but it's also meant I've had little to say on this blog for the last few months.

Test Centre: Upton

I was sat in the back for this one. My pupil, Neil, was relaxed and confident on the pre test lesson, but when it came down to the real thing, he got a bit of the fear in him. And it showed.

He was asked to do a parallel park in Sparks Lane, Thingwall and ended up putting his wheels up on the pavement. The examiner let him try to sort it out for a little while, then when he couldn't correct it, asked him to move on.

The mark Neil got on his test sheet was a serious fault, reverse parking (road) - Control.

We'd actually done a parallel park as part of the pre test lesson. Neil did it quite well. He didn't do it in the structured way I'd taught him, but what he did do seemed to work for him so I left it at that. Shame really. If he'd made a mess of it, we would have done a bit more on it, and he might not have got it wrong when it mattered.

If you do get it wrong, and touch the kerb, you haven't at that point failed your test. Generally if you try to reverse further you're going to make matters worse, so if you do touch the kerb, put the car into first gear, Check it's Clear Around You!!!!, and correct it by going forwards. Often, if you can fix it, the examiner will mark it as just a minor fault.