The driving test is tough enough – but for one student, it wasn’t her driving that was the problem; it was her instructor’s car.
Picture the scene – you are halfway through your test and are driving your instructor’s Ford Fiesta. All’s going well until you see flashing blue lights in your rearview mirror and have to pull over. Cue the police stopping the test because according to their records, the instructor’s car has no insurance and no MOT. Test over – with a guaranteed fail.
That’s what happened to an unnamed student while taking her test in Birmingham; she was pulled over, informed the car wasn’t road legal and the vehicle subsequently seized and towed away. In the meantime, the student and examiner were driven back to the test centre.
To add insult to injury, according to the police, the pupil is alleged to have been on course for a pass with no faults made – but alas, she hadn’t driven for the amount of time needed to get a pass and will now have to retake the test.
There is a silver lining though – the student won’t be done for the offences; instead the driving instructor will be facing 6-8 penalty points on their licence and a £5,000 fine for the lack of insurance plus a £1,000 fine for having no MOT.
In the meantime, police have said that they are now in possession of the instructor’s badge after he reportedly revealed that he knew the car wasn’t insured. As for the pupil, the police did say that “we think she might get a replacement test free due to the circumstances, [a] bit of goodwill from the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) would be nice.’ We heartily agree!
Image © Chelsea