Test day in Ullapool again. Only three pupils on test today, two first-timers and one having his second attempt. Unusually, for Ullapool, all three of my pupils have the luxury of a lesson before their test; usually here, my pupils meet me at the 'test centre' while we wait for the previous pupil to complete their test, then they may get 5 – 10 minutes practice before their test time.
Phil had the 8.40am test and this was his second attempt. He had been very keen to get a lot of hours in before this attempt and it paid off as he passed easily, with 5 minor (sorry, 'driving') faults (we are not supposed to refer to them as 'minor' faults).
Sadly, my next pupil (on her first attempt) wasn't so successful, not giving adequate clearance to parked cars and failing to cancel a left indicator.
On the day before each test I send a text message reminding my pupil to bring BOTH parts of their licence with them. Then, when I meet them before the test, the first thing I do is to ask them if they have their licence. My 3.27pm test pupil was no different. She had previously been having lessons with another instructor in Inverness before moving to Ullapool and BSM Inverness had been very kind in recommending me to her. This was her first attempt.
When I first met Judith she seemed a nice driver, but her confidence did not match her ability. When I questioned her about it she said that sometimes in her lessons she would do something and her previous instructor would say “THAT would fail you” and, eventually, it knocked what confidence she had. I prefer a different method of instruction: If a pupil makes a mistake, that mistake should be analysed and the possible consequences discussed. Those consequences do not include 'That would cost you your test.'
She is from the Netherlands and we had a funny moment a few weeks ago. A nice sunny day in Ullapool and the harbour area was full of tourists. She was about to turn right into a road and did not anticipate the group of tourists walking out into the road she was about to enter. It was safe for her to enter the road, but she began to accelerate before she fully appreciated the situation. I braked for her as the pedestrians continued crossing the road and, when it was safe, she drove on. But she was muttering and her face was scarlet.
“Were you right to do what you did?” I asked.
“Oh, it's not that,” she replied, “I know I was in the wrong, but it was what they said.”
“I didn't catch what they said.”
“No... it was in Dutch.”
They had said something like “That girl needs her lessons”, nothing offensive, but I would have been very tempted to have driven around and said something in Dutch back to them... My pupil is obviously more mature than I am.
We had a nice hour's lesson beforehand and arrived for the test with a few minutes to spare. Being the last test of the day, the examiner was obviously keen to get going as he was already walking over towards us. “Just drive as you have been doing and you'll be fine.” I assured my pupil. “Geoff (the examiner) is already here, so take your licence and say 'hello' to him”. She grabbed her bag and looked for her licence. “#@%£!!!” (Dutch expletive). She looked in another section of her bag. “F@(&!!!” (Anglo-Saxon expletive). She looked at me. “I haven't got my licence.”
Silence.......
“Oh!......Oh!...... I know what I've done. I've left it in the café where I was having lunch. My friends should still be there.” I got out the car, explained the situation to Geoff and asked if I could have two minutes (a bit optimistic). “Hurry up.” He said (but in a nice way).
Leaving Judith with Geoff, I got in my car and dashed to The Ceilidh Place (keeping within the speed limits, of course!). If this had been a film, The Race by Yello would have been the soundtrack. I reversed into the tightest of gaps, found her friends and they rummaged through a rucksack to (eventually) find her licence. It had started to rain, so, by the time I got back to them, Geoff and my pupil were looking quite soggy. She looked at me as though I had rescued her from a fire-breathing dragon and she was on her way.
Not the best way to start a test – I shouldn't think it did much for her nerves – but she later said that the examiner had been really nice and had completely relaxed her whilst they waited for me. Anyway, she passed, with six driving faults and gave me a big hug as a thank you for my dash to get her licence.
It felt a bit strange only having three tests, but, with seven other hours of lessons, I'm not complaining.
So, very well done to Phil and Judith on their success today. And thank you to Geoff for not being a jobsworth and giving Judith and I a bit of extra time to sort ourselves out. In future I won't just ask my pupils if they have their licence, I will get them to hand it over to me. It could have easily been a much more costly lesson.
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