What do you need to bring to your first Driving Lesson?

What do you need to bring to your first driving lesson? Is there something you may have forgotten about or overlooked?

The answer is “not very much….”

1. Provisional licence – the most important thing is to remember to bring your provisional licence (if you haven’t got one see our blog on how to apply for your Provisional Driving Licence). You instructor must see this before he/she is allowed to give you any lessons. So make sure you bring it with you, or you will not have a first lesson at all.

2. Glasses/contact lenses – if you need them, please remember to bring them. Your instructor will ask you to read a number plate from:

• 20 metres for cars with the new-style number plates (2 letters followed by 2 Numbers KP34 CCA; or
• 20.5 metres for the old style number plates.

If you are unable to read the number plate unfortunately, your instructor wont be able to take you out unless you are able to collect your glasses before the lesson starts. If you were unable to read a number plate on the day of the test, the examiner wouldn’t be able to continue any further with the Driving Test. Also a good idea to make sure you had a recent eye test, as if your glasses are no longer adequate you may struggle.

3. Shoes – it may sound silly but please wear comfortable shoes (trainers or flat shoes are best). This makes things much easier.

Driving Test Changes

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has recently announced changes to the Driving Test that all learner drivers should be aware of. The changes place more emphasis on safe, independent driving as well as the use of Sat Nav technology, and represent some of the most significant changes to the test format in many years.

Updated maneuvers: “Reverse around a corner” and “turn in the road” were eliminated. Rather, candidates were put through one of three exercises: driving into a parking bay and reversing out, reversing into a parking bay, or pulling up on the right side of the road and reversing.

Candidates now respond to a “show me” question while driving and a “tell me” question prior to driving. The Edinburgh Driving Lessons website has a dedicated page to this. Please visit https://www.drivinglessonsedinburgh.co.uk/show-me-tell-me/ – you will find it very useful.

These driving test changes will come into effect from the 4th of December 2017 – so if you plan on taking your test after that date you will need to familiarise yourself with the new requirements.

The DVLA website will have all the information you need, please make sure you visit the site and read all the relevant information.

Your Driving Lessons Edinburgh instructor will obviously explain the new test format to you in more detail.