Last Friday, I took my first practical driving test in the UK and failed it on the dumbest of errors.

It was nothing forced onto me. Nor was it an error due to pressure from some crazy driver or biker. It was an error which is pretty basic and quite elementary. It’s an error I should have known and remembered since taking the theory test.

After joining a dual-carriage way from a roundabout, I stayed in the right hand lane which is only supposed to be used for overtaking. While doing this, I had no idea I was doing something wrong. It only dawned to me when the examiner told me I failed my exam due to this serious fault. At which point, I resisted hitting myself on the head.

Being the pessimist that I am, I knew I’d fail but had no idea I’d get this close to passing it on the first try. This was mostly due to not confident enough plus based on my drive last Monday, my instructor thought I’d be better off pushing it further. As such, he was also surprised at how close I almost made it.

Still, “almost” does not cut it. It is still a failure which means retaking the exam at a later date and with the wait time being around 2 months, this is going to be a problem. Wasting 6 hours a day traveling to Slough is not good in any possible way.

Initially booked for August 19 but upon checking earlier, a slot was available for the 10th of August so I changed it. With two more allowable re-schedules, I will be checking the site everyday hoping an earlier slot would open up.