DRIVING VEXED

Planning this column over the Christmas holidays I was hoping to be able to regale you with a bit of good news about what I’d been up to on my yuletide break.

For as the rest of you anticipated what the turn of the new year would bring the following evening, early on the 30^th December I was venturing out on the cold, misty morning in hope that this time I would be second time lucky in securing that all important pass certificate for my practical driving test .

Having chosen the early time slot for the sole purpose that it gave me less time to sit around at home stressing  I arrived at the test centre raring to go and strode through the doors with a positive “ c’mon then show me what you got “ attitude on ,ready to take on anything the roads could throw at me .

Which was when I glanced at my phone and spotted the cancellation email that stated that the decision had been made to reschedule my driving test as the foggy conditions had rendered it unsafe for the examiner to take me out on the road to assess my driving ability.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, however I conceded to the fact eventually that it just wasn’t going to happen that day, returned to my instructors car and wouldn’t you just believe it drove home perfectly with no silly mistakes and even nailing that hill start at the mini roundabout that I’d had the major disaster with on my first test.

So as we speak I am practising hard for my rescheduled appointment which comes up very soon after this column will be published.

I’d like to take this time while i wait though to impart some of my own wisdom on to the powers that be who decree whether or not it’s safe for you to partake in your practical that might make the whole cancellation process a little less stressful in the long run.

First of all , the majority of people tend to schedule in a last lesson prior to driving to the test centre so where possible it would be best to send out the cancellation notice as early as you can rather than 10 minutes before the test is due to take place .

In those circumstances where that is for whatever reason a problem it would secondly be distinctly more courteous for there to be someone in the waiting room at the centre to apologise for the inconvenience caused rather than having all the staff hiding away behind closed doors, fearful to come out and face the music because they know that the candidates tempers might be a little vexed.

Reinvestigating what constitutes unsafe driving conditions from day to day might also be worth considering as there were plenty of learner drivers out in that fog that day driving safely including myself, yet the day before when it was really lovely and bright i had really struggled as the combination of the sun shining low and dazzling me with its reflection on the shiny wet roads had meant I was literally driving blind in some areas of Medway.

And finally it is advisable that if you’re going to cancel certain candidates tests due to the weather that you should be consistent with that decision throughout the day as if you are seen less than an hour later by both the cancelled candidate and their instructor to be sending out tests when the weather is much the same as it was before it does look to them as if you just didn’t want to go out on the early bird sessions and are suiting yourselves rather than considering the schedules of those sitting their practical’s .

Hope that advice is of good use to those concerned , you know it makes sense , I’ll see you on and at my revised date and time and maybe next time my column goes to print I might finally have something to celebrate about .