After many fruitless months of job searching, I asked young Ree if he'd like to learn to be a PCV driver.

Now it's quite expensive but he's been knuckling down, passed his theory tests and part one of his CPC too.

Finally took his practical yesterday.

Before you go on the road, just like the car test, you have to show competance on general maintainance knowledge. Then comes a manouverabilty test, between cones and reversing into a marked box.

This he did whilst the examiner was out of the vehicle (52 seater coach).

After complettion and consider yourself to be in the correct position, the driver can get out to see how he's/ she's done.

This is what young Ree did.

To his dismay, he was approx 2' short of the area he was supposed to be parked within.

The examiner told him, "you've failed", meaning, not you've failed the manouver, but you've failed the test in its entirity! :no:

To put it mildly, he was gutted and no longer felt the desire to carry on. He was told he could finish the test there and then or carry on. The instructor presumably heard what was going on, and instructed him to carry on regardless for the practice.

However, on young Rees admission, his heart was no longer in it, and consequently drove in a ragged manner,(NOT dangerous, just a bit sloppy apparently before anyone kicks off) examiner performing much sighing and shaking of head.

As a consequence he received much critisism at the end of the test from the examiner, but really, what is the point in carrying on doing the test if you know you've failed before you've even reached the public highway!? Hardly puts you in the right frame of mind to try your best does it?

Re-test next Monday. Just hope and pray he doesn't get the same examiner!

What do you experts and proffesionals think of this practice of informing the driver of failure before they've even properly started then?

Apparently, according to the instructor, this is quite normal on the PCV/ LGV-HGV tests.

I personally think it stinks and is bang out of order.

Edited 31 January, 201214 yr by Mr Ree

Personally I think the reversing test is stupid. When I did it there was a cut in the spray suppression to line up.

I agree it is obviously going discourage most people from the perfect driving they expect in these tests