It is embarrassing how long it took me to get my driving licence. Not because I kept failing my test, but because it took me ten (yes, really!) years to take it. To some degree this wasn’t my fault. I got my provisional licence when I was 17. I immediately started taking lessons in Scotland where I lived. I was confident in my driving but kept hearing the same thing, ‘You need more lessons.’ I was desperate to do my test and dumped my driving instructor. I got another one who was worse. He would break wind in the car. If you think junctions are hard then try to do them while holding your breathe!

Instructor number three was a woman. She seemed to drift away while I was driving and, like number one, would keep saying I needed more lessons. I asked what was wrong with my driving and also like number one, she could not answer. I was annoyed.

In the meantime I passed my theory test, first time, with the highest score the test centre said they had ever had. I finally made my driving instructor book a test. And then I got an acting job in London. In fact, I kept getting acting jobs and auditions. I would buy blocks of lessons and then get a job. I realised that I had to move. The traveling and costs were too much. I moved to London and then getting my drivers licence became something on my to do list that never actually got done. Until this year.

This kind of procrastination is not like me but after a lot of thought I know why: I hate tests. I am confident in my ability to do things but I don’t like it when people test me. Ten years ago I was raring to go, but the whole test phobia had gotten worse with age. I had to control this to progress. I had built the test up to more than it was. As the years crept by and I headed into my twenties I felt like the oldest non-driver in the world. Everybody else seemed to be able to do this essential life skill, why not me? Then I started to lose jobs. A lead role in a BBC TV show, big commercials and countless films. I had to do something about it.

I started taking lessons again in 2012. In fact I had one lesson in 2010 and one lesson in 2011. In 2012 I started looking for an instructor. The guy from the AA Driving School had been giving lessons since 7am. I had my lesson with him at 7pm. I was driving in the dark after a long break. I had to have my wits about me, I lived in Ealing at the time and Southall was my nearest driving test centre. Southall is notoriously hard to pass your test at. Their pass rate is around 40%. I had a friend who had taken three goes there to pass her test. There were horror stories. Driving in Southall during that lesson, with a driving instructor who was pretty much asleep, was a learning curve. I decided not to have any more lessons with him. He was obviously overworked.

Next up was BSM. They offered an instructor who had not taken all of her tests yet for only £20 an hour. Bargain! I thought. As I said, I was confident in my driving ability, I just needed practice and the nerve to take the test. I paid for a block of ten lessons at £200. This turned out to be a big mistake. She arrived and I got in the car and I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and there was a woman staring at me. ‘Oh, this is my cleaner. You don’t mind if she comes along, do you?’ Shocked and thrown I mumbled ‘no’. I immediately was annoyed to myself. I have always been too polite. Something I am still working on. The cleaner did not seem to like my driving, Tutting every time I did something wrong. Which was often as the instructor and the cleaner talked to each other in a different language the entire time. On other lessons, she spent the entire time on her phone. One entire lesson was bay parking, something that the Southall driving test does not include.

I took lessons with Red, the instructor kept trying to sell me other things and we didn’t gel. I then took lessons with an independent driving instructor. I won’t mention her name here but I regret every lesson I ever took with her. She would yell and get angry, tell me about pupils who had blown their top and gotten angry with her. She would then dump them,not realising it was her that was pushing them too far. Passing a church she mentioned that they should send their prayers our way. I was beyond offended. My driving got worse under her and she kept putting me off taking my test. One day at a roundabout in Southall I couldn’t take anymore. I turned the ignition off as angry cars overtook. She yelled at me. I yelled back. We never had another lesson and she sent me a long, bitchy email about my ‘f**k it’ attitude. Self awareness obviously being too hard to grasp. She also said I would never pass my test.

By this time I had had enough but I would not quit. As I edged into my late twenties I started to worry about being 30 and without a drivers licence. I would not have it. I got on the internet and madly researched. I would take an intensive course. And I would pass.

The theory test only lasts two years and I had already taken it twice, passing first time with high scores each time, it was about to run out again due to my procrastination. I booked an intensive course. It was the best thing I ever did. I actually did not pass first time. the nerves got to me. I was physically shaking from head to toe. I only got three minors but was so nervous that when the examiner said ‘turn right’ I immediately did so, onto a two way side street.

I decided to not let the nerves, or the pressure, both financial and social, get to me. I bought some Bach Rescue Remedy, ate a banana, bought The Girls’ Guide to Losing Your L-plates: How to Pass Your Driving Test and focused. I used positive visualisation to imagine myself driving, on my own, down a country road. ‘You’re a good driver Catherine,’ My instructor said. ‘It is just a test, why be nervous?’ I put it into prescriptive. I told myself that the only person I had to pass for was myself. And I did it. With only four minors.

To this day my driving licence is one of my favourite things. Every time I look at it I know that anything is possible with hard work, perseverance and a positive attitude. The fact it was so hard to get just makes it even more amazing. I spent thousands of pounds but I finally feel like a grown up.

How To Pass Your Driving Test (From someone who has done it)

Take an intensive course. They are easier and you won’t get an instructor stringing you along for more money.

Choose an instructor that you get along with. Don’t give money to anyone who shouts or bullies.

Study. Read the The Official DSA Theory Test Book and highway code again. Remember the rules of the road.

If you get nervous try Bach Rescue Remedy. It worked for me.

Ask friends and family for their stories and advice.

Don’t tell anyone when you actually do your test. You don’t need the extra pressure.

Try and get a family member or friend to take you out. I did not have this and it cost me quite a bit of money as I could only practice in an instructors car.

Your theory test runs out after two years. Take it just before you take the practical, It will help having the knowledge in your head too.

For Girls, The Girls’ Guide to Losing Your L-plates: How to Pass Your Driving Test is an excellent book. It really helped me pass and also has some driving tips for when you do pass.

For Boys; Pass Your Practical Driving Test: Discover what your examiner is looking for and save the expense and heartache of failing is a good book.

Relax, if you fail you can do it again. It is not the end of the world.

Don’t over think it. Just be aware. Indicate even if other cars don’t. Just because someone has a licence doesn’t mean they are a good driver.

Always remember your checks. Look all around during maneuvers and at junctions.

Know what the DSA are looking for and know why people fail.

Good luck!