I picked up this little snippet of information from my driving instructor mate today.......who has a Citroen with a dodgy engine management light. 

From Monday 4 June 2018, you will not be able to use any vehicle (not including motorbikes) for a driving test if:

• its engine management light is on, or if the light does not work
• its reversing lights don’t work (this only applies to cars first used from 1 September 2009)

This is just the tip of the iceberg...

Any light or bulb that fails to light or fails to go out, if a warning light, potentially means the examiner could refuse to take you to test. There must be a proper headrest and seatbelt for the examiner, (This excludes many, if not all older, classic vehicles) along with a rear view mirror. Proper rear seats, so no sports cars with fake seats, BMW mini convertibles, Smart Fortwo's etc, no soft tops anyway, a solid convertible MIGHT be ok with the roof up, as long as visibility is not impaired. Any recall MUST be accompanied by paperwork to prove it has been done, otherwise, again, the examiner will not take you out. The examiner has a quick look at all four tyres, for wear and damage, whilst also observing any damage to lights and mirrors. No spacesaver tyres allowed, tyres/wheels must be the same size on the same axle. The vehicle must also be able to reach speeds of 62MPH (?). Strange, as the legal speed limit is 70MPH but then, it must not be restricted either!

Must also have an MPH speedometer and must be smoke free! You cannot smoke just prior to or during the test, for health and safety reasons.

 

I actually think the rule was introduced a few years back unless they have just re-worded it. You stated the light as not working. This might be the specific change as if it is lit, they won't take you but if it has been disconnected, they may not realise so it sounds more specific. No light on, no test but light won't go out, no test!

 

As I mentioned before, though, Theoretically, ANY bulb that does not light can be reason to terminate the test. It could even be a sidelight or numberplate light, although the test is taken in daylight. It could be a glovebox or interior light but I think anyone with common sense will not try that. There are many other criteria to meet but this covers the most noticable.

 

You may even be asked to provide insurance/MOT documents too, although they normally ask you to sign a waiver, stating everything is legal.

Edited 25 May, 20188 yr by mrgf

Presently you can not use any car, there are ones that can not be used.

http://gov.uk/driving-test/using-your-own-car 

Better hope My brother does not take his test anytime soon.

 

He managed to light up the whole dashboard last night with some extreme pedal action!

 

End result was the engine management light shown!

 

Davy

16 minutes ago, mrgf said:

This is just the tip of the iceberg...

Any light or bulb that fails to light or fails to go out, if a warning light, potentially means the examiner could refuse to take you to test. There must be a proper headrest and seatbelt for the examiner, (This excludes many, if not all older, classic vehicles) along with a rear view mirror. Proper rear seats, so no sports cars with fake seats, BMW mini convertibles, Smart Fortwo's etc, no soft tops anyway, a solid convertible MIGHT be ok with the roof up, as long as visibility is not impaired. Any recall MUST be accompanied by paperwork to prove it has been done, otherwise, again, the examiner will not take you out. The examiner has a quick look at all four tyres, for wear and damage, whilst also observing any damage to lights and mirrors. No spacesaver tyres allowed, tyres/wheels must be the same size on the same axle. The vehicle must also be able to reach speeds of 62MPH (?). Strange, as the legal speed limit is 70MPH but then, it must not be restricted either!

Must also have an MPH speedometer and must be smoke free! You cannot smoke just prior to or during the test, for health and safety reasons.

 

I actually think the rule was introduced a few years back unless they have just re-worded it. You stated the light as not working. This might be the specific change as if it is lit, they won't take you but if it has been disconnected, they may not realise so it sounds more specific. No light on, no test but light won't go out, no test!

 

As I mentioned before, though, Theoretically, ANY bulb that does not light can be reason to terminate the test. It could even be a sidelight or numberplate light, although the test is taken in daylight. It could be a glovebox or interior light but I think anyone with common sense will not try that. There are many other criteria to meet but this covers the most noticable.

 

You may even be asked to provide insurance/MOT documents too, although they normally ask you to sign a waiver, stating everything is legal.

 

 

He said it was an email from DVSA supposedly to all driving school instructors!

On 5/25/2018 at 19:36, Skodaboy1983 said:

Better hope My brother does not take his test anytime soon.

 

He managed to light up the whole dashboard last night with some extreme pedal action!

 

End result was the engine management light shown!

 

Davy

Might be worth trying the old "Disconnect, reconnect the battery" Trick... Give it ten mins in between, have yourself a cuppa, then fit it back and see!

No mention yet on hill assist handbrakes or parking sensors. Something that fails to make sense to me, is that after passing the test, a new driver could jump into a van, and then -how does he/she see through the blocked off window to reverse- given that the old fogies at DVLA Central insist on reversing looking over the shoulder, through rear window. What next -a van conversion test?

11 hours ago, VWD said:

No mention yet on hill assist handbrakes or parking sensors. Something that fails to make sense to me, is that after passing the test, a new driver could jump into a van, and then -how does he/she see through the blocked off window to reverse- given that the old fogies at DVLA Central insist on reversing looking over the shoulder, through rear window. What next -a van conversion test?

 

Stuff like parking sensors and hill assist are not yet standard (or required) features on all new cars and there are a large number of older cars in service without these features, so incorporating them into the test is not viable right now IMO. They're an additional benefit when you have them, but you still need to be able to drive without them for now.

 

On the van thing, if someone has only been taught how to pass the driving test, then yes, they will have a problem here. If they have been taught how to drive properly, and think their way through what they do on the road and how the standard techniques taught in lessons need to be adapted to suit the situation then this should not be a problem.

Cimaera- think driving schools/think production line & only standard methods, and you have robots or cloned robots . On a four lane road, you see a bus stop ahead ,with folks waiting . In my day, I was taught to prepare for bus stopping and move out. Today- what do I see- a queue behind the bus ,where drivers have not ANTICIPATED that the bus might stop at a bus stop- something I was taught in my first few driving lessons. PERHAPS some forward thinking might prevail and learners are taught both how to reverse looking over the shoulder ( which IMHO is less safe than reversing by mirrors0) and using mirrors . And then again how to use and prefect anticipation and observation skills.

That is the product of today's driving schools. 

Not being picky, it's just that seeing the standard on today's roads, I feel that learners and road safety are being failed by a flawed learn to pass the test system, riddled with antique and out of date practices.

 

Edited 6 June, 20188 yr by VWD

11 hours ago, VWD said:

 I feel that learners and road safety are being failed by a flawed learn to pass the test system, riddled with antique and out of date practices.

100% agree, when I took my test in 1975 my instructor was always reminding me to look ahead and anticipate what problems/situations might occur and be ready to take appropriate action BEFORE they occur - it makes driving smoother and less stressful for all road users.

As someone who teaches engineering at third level from time to time, this problem is not limited to driving. There's a significant tendency among students to learn to pass the test, instead of studying and understanding the principles so that they can be applied in the real world to a variety of situations. Students are shocked when I tell them that I've written the exam in such a way that just learning off the notes and tutorial problems won't be enough to pass.

34 minutes ago, chimaera said:

I've written the exam in such a way that just learning off the notes and tutorial problems won't be enough to pass

 

Careful; in today's (sad, sad) world you'll probably get sued by some entitled student and lose!

10 hours ago, chimaera said:

As someone who teaches engineering at third level from time to time, this problem is not limited to driving. There's a significant tendency among students to learn to pass the test, instead of studying and understanding the principles so that they can be applied in the real world to a variety of situations. Students are shocked when I tell them that I've written the exam in such a way that just learning off the notes and tutorial problems won't be enough to pass.

That's why modern so called engineers have problems. My engineering training was in telephony, but applied equally to all aspects of engineering, especially repair and maintenance.

First find & understand how something works. Then if faulty, find out the how & why . And then you are in a position to make a one time repair. With driving, it's much the same, EXCEPT that you should never be in the situation of having to rectify a bad decision.

11 hours ago, VWD said:

That's why modern so called engineers have problems. My engineering training was in telephony, but applied equally to all aspects of engineering, especially repair and maintenance.

First find & understand how something works. Then if faulty, find out the how & why . And then you are in a position to make a one time repair. With driving, it's much the same, EXCEPT that you should never be in the situation of having to rectify a bad decision.

That is SO true.

 

I studied electrical & electronic engineering at university in the mid-1970s but the first year was common to ALL engineering disciplines so we all got a grounding in all forms of engineering - skills that I used for the whole of my working life, and continue to use know I'm retired.