During your driving test, the examiner will ask you to do 1 out of 4 manoeuvre:

1. Forward Bay parking

2. Reverse Bay parking

3. Parallel Parking

4. Pull up on the right side of the road and reverse two car lengths

1. Forward bay parking

Forward bay parking is not as easy as it may sound you are required to park your car within the bay lines driving forward and full locking your steering wheel to the left or right.

It’s kind of creating that sharp 90-degree angle.

Driving straight forward is not the correct way of doing this manoeuvre. I have personally witnessed examiners failing students for doing so.

You were marked on:

• control – your ability to control the car
• observation – your observation of your surroundings when parking

You should have parked your car in a designated space, then reversed out. Your car should have been straight and central within the space.

You should have been checking your surroundings throughout, proceeding only when it was safe to do so.

Examples of faults

Some of the most common faults for this area include:

• not being positioned within the lines, and not attempting to correct position
• steering too closely to vehicle in the next bay
• not making effective all round observations when reversing out

Your examiner may have explained the specific details of any faults you made.

How you can improve in this area

If you made faults in this area during your test, or if you want to improve in this area, read pages 244 to 246 of ‘The Official DVSA Guide to Driving: the Essential Skills’ (2020 edition)

Make sure you practise in different car parks.

2. Reverse Bay Parking

Many students assume this will be a difficult manoeuvre. But ends up being one of the favourite manoeuvres to do.

The good thing about this manoeuvre is that you have loads of time to fix it if need be.

Be very cautious and aware of your surroundings and hazards.

The examiner will watch you to ensure you do the following:

• good control of your car while reversing
• Be very cautious and aware of your surroundings and hazards.

Your examiner will have asked you to either:

• reverse park into a space on the side of the road, behind another car – you should have been within 2 car lengths of the vehicle in front, and parallel to the pavement
• reverse into a parking bay, then drive out – you should have been straight and central with in the space before exiting

Examples of faults

Some of the most common faults for this area include:

• having to reposition the car a lot, due to poor control
• touching or driving over the pavement
• not taking all round effective observations
• not finishing within the marked bay

Make sure you practise in different car parks.

3. Parallel Park

In my own opinion, this is by far the most technical manoeuvre out of all four of them. And most of our students do agree on that as well.

You will succeed in this manoeuvre by:

• controlling your speed – reversing slowly
• not hitting the curb
• doing good observations – especially the moment the front of your car will swing out at 45-degree angle
• your car should end up be parked within 2 car lengths of the vehicle in front, and parallel to the pavement

Reference points:

• the examiner would ask you to pull up on the left parallel to a parked car
• the car should be moving slowly at all times during parallel park manoeuvre
• position your car by stopping an open door width from the car you parking behind
• your car left wing mirror in line with the front of the car you are intending to park behind
• we use 1-2-1 method:
  • 1 turn to the left when the back of the other car is in the middle of passenger back window
  • 2 turns to the right when the triangle in the left-wing mirror disappears
  • 1 turn to the left once the car gets straight.

4. Reverse / right (pull up on the right)

You were marked on:

• control – your ability to control the car when reversing
• observation – your ability to check your surroundings for other road users or hazards

You needed to pull up on the right hand side of the road, and reverse for 2 car lengths. You should have remained reasonably close to the pavement, without touching it.

Examples of faults

Some of the most common faults for this area include:

• not being aware of a hazard or other road user when reversing
• relying on just the mirrors to check surroundings
• touching or driving onto the pavement
• not judging oncoming traffic safely when moving across to the right
• being too far from the pavement when parked

Your examiner may have explained the specific details of any faults you made.

• making effective all round observations when reversing
• practicing pulling up on the right on a variety of roads