Expected outcome / competence

Ability to control the vehicle accurately when parking on the road or into a parking bay. Effective all round observation throughout the manoeuvre showing consideration to other road users.

Car park outside bay

Assessment criteria (example = control)

Driving fault:

  • Re-positioning required to correct a loss of control or accuracy

Serious fault:

  • Excessive re-positioning to correct complete misjudgement and /or significant loss of control
  • Final parking position parking – outside the bay

Dangerous fault:

  • Any situation brought about by the above loss of control that resulted in actual danger to the examiner, candidate, the general public or property

Other faults:

Control:

  • poor coordination of controls
  • scrubbing/brushing the kerb
  • unnecessary shunting backwards and forwards
  • getting too close to the object car
  • mounting the pavement
  • turning the steering wheel the wrong way
  • parking too far from the kerb
  • stalling
  • not completing within two car lengths
  • finishing at an acute angle to the kerb

Car Park:

  • poor coordination of controls
  • ending up straddling two bays
  • unnecessary shunting forwards and backwards
  • turning the steering wheel the wrong way
  • stalling

Observation:

  • no blind spot checks
  • relying too much or entirely on the mirrors
  • ineffective observation
  • looking but not reacting to other vehicles or pedestrians
  • waiting too long for other users in the car park.

The above is taken from The Driving Examiners Manual.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-driving-examiners-carrying-out-driving-tests-dt1

Where appropriate it has been reformatted and edited so it only refers to the driving of ordinary cars (class b).