Life Stories and Personal Memories > Personal Memories

Driving Tests

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AlanTH:
I seem to spend a lot of time on memories these days, mostly because the girls don't love me any more.... :) But going back to driving and passing the test etc., I failed my first attempt from the centre on New Road Chatham.
I told the examiner it didn't matter as I always drove everywhere on my own and he gave me a ticking off as it was against the law which of course I knew anyway.
I had a blue Ford Consul with my tools in the back and drove all over the country doing various jobs and never got stopped once by the police although I was followed on numerous occasions. 
Anyway, I drank heaps in the old Bridge Wardens on the Tideway when Arthur Toyer and Connie ran it, and another drinker in there was a bloke named Stan and he was a Sergeant of Traffic. Stan lived right across the road from the pub and knew just about everything we all got up to especially us yobs and was known as a bit of a stickler for road safety.
An older bloke who also drank there, name long forgotten, bought his first car at about 55 - 60 years old so him and "Mum" could go for days out down the coast etc.
Stan nicked him for driving without a licence and no qualified driver with him. The old bloke (much younger than I am now.... ) protested vigorously and said to Stan "There's a youngster in the pub has been driving around for months with L plates on, why don't you give him a ticket?"
Stan's answer was great and the old bloke told me afterwards moaning about it .... "Because he can drive and you can't". Stan took me aside not long after and gave me a good telling off but I still never got a ticket and continued on my merry way for nearly a year before passing the test. :)
AlanTH.

MartinR:
50 years in December since I got my provisional licence:

AlanTH:
I've had a license for 55 or 56 years now. I also drove buses for Maidstone and District from Gillingham depot, taxis for Vokes and old Tom Wimble and my own cab after buying 2 at different times. Same here in Oz where I've lived for nearly 50 years, cars, buses and taxis plus trucks but not the real huge ones they use here.
Used to ride motorbikes occasionally but never took a test.
Still drive huge distances when we travel to the north for holidays but don't do the 800 plus kays in a day I used to as I get too tired now. Rather sit back earlier in the day and have a beer or three. :)
AlanH.

PS. Just modified the above years since first getting a license.... so I can drive but can't count yet. :)

Dave Smith:
Sorry lads, mine is 60 years car & 63 m/cycle (scooter in my case but license was for all m/c's). No doubt that will be well beaten  by someone in the years to come. Incidentally, my Dad's license- for 1 year only- was 12/1/1924, needed for his work duties. But he never owned a car. His Highway Code book (32 pages), which included signals for cyclists & drivers of horse drawn vehicles, cost 1d.

Howardws:
My father didn’t have to take a test when he bought his first car - a  three wheel Morgan with a Jap vee twin engine. Apparently he bought it at an auction and drove it away. When I asked how he learned to drive he was most affronted. His reply was “I’m an Engineer, I knew how a car worked, therefore I knew how to drive”.

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