First, some reassurance: manoeuvres are not about millimetre-perfect parking. Examiners mark three things — control (keeping the car slow), accuracy (finishing roughly where you should) and observation (looking properly, all the way round, the whole way through). A slow, observant manoeuvre with a small correction beats a fast, tidy one with no checks every time. The reference points below are a starting guide — every car is slightly different, and your instructor will fine-tune them to the car you learn in.
Parallel parking
You pull up beside a parked car, reverse into the space behind it, and finish close to the kerb within about two car lengths. It feels like the big one, but it’s the most rehearsable manoeuvre on the list.
Pull up alongside
Stop parallel to the target car, about half a metre away from it. Check your mirrors and blind spot before you stop — you’re pausing on the road, so other traffic needs to know.
Prepare the car
Select reverse promptly so your reversing lights tell everyone what you’re doing. Full all-round observation — both blind spots, all mirrors, out the back window — before the car moves.
Reverse to your turning point
Creep back at slow walking pace until your rear wheels are roughly level with the back of the target car. In most cars that’s about when the car’s rear bumper appears in line with your back seat windows.
Steer towards the kerb
Steer left towards the kerb. The front of your car will swing out into the road, so check over your right shoulder and your right mirror before and while it does.
Straighten at 45 degrees
When the kerb runs diagonally through your left mirror — roughly a 45 degree angle — start taking the steering back off and let the car come parallel.
Finish and secure
Stop close to and parallel with the kerb, within about two car lengths of the target car. Handbrake on. If you’re not happy, a calm shunt forward to adjust is allowed — and far better than settling for a bad position.
Common faults
- Touching or mounting the kerb — creep the last metre, don’t coast into it.
- Finishing wide of the kerb (roughly a door’s width or more).
- No right-shoulder check as the front swings out — this is the most common serious fault.
- Rushing: speed is what turns a small error into a big one.
Instructor tip
If a car approaches while you’re mid-manoeuvre, don’t panic and don’t rush. Pause, let the examiner see you’ve noticed it, and carry on when it’s sensible. Showing awareness is worth more than a quick finish.
Bay parking — driving in forwards
You drive forwards into a marked bay, then reverse back out. This version is usually done in a public car park on the test route. Around here that often means a supermarket car park — learners at Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft practise it regularly on real spaces.
Approach wide and slow
Position as far from the bays as the car park allows — the wider your approach, the easier the turn. Slow walking pace.
Pick your bay and your point
Choose a bay (the examiner usually lets you pick). Start steering when your reference point arrives — for many cars, that’s when the bay’s first white line passes under your door mirror.
Steer briskly, drive slowly
Full lock towards the bay while the car stays slow. Aim the car at the centre of the space, checking both mirrors as the lines appear either side.
Straighten and stop inside the lines
As the car lines up with the bay, straighten the wheels and stop with the whole car inside the lines. Crossing a line at the finish is a fault — if you’re over it, reposition.
Reverse out with full observation
Leaving is part of the test. Reverse out at creeping pace with continuous all-round observation — car parks are full of pedestrians — and steer once your front wheels are clear of the bay.
Common faults
- Finishing with a wheel on or over the line and not correcting it.
- Reversing out without proper checks — pedestrians and trolleys appear from nowhere.
- Approaching too fast to steer accurately.
Instructor tip
You’re allowed to correct yourself. A calm reverse-and-adjust to get inside the lines is a sign of control, not failure.
Bay parking — reversing in
You reverse into a bay, then drive out forwards. This version is usually done at the test centre car park itself — at Norwich (Peachman Way) it’s a common way to end the test, so learners on our Norwich routes practise it on the way past.
Position and prepare
Drive forward past your chosen bay, leaving about a car’s width from the line of bays. Reverse gear, full all-round observation before moving.
Reverse to your turning point
Creep straight back until your reference point lines up — often when the bay’s third line (counting your target bay’s far line) sits in your door mirror. Then steer full lock towards the bay.
Watch both mirrors
As the car swings, the bay lines appear in both door mirrors. Keep switching: mirror, mirror, over the shoulder, ahead. The front of the car sweeps out, so watch for anything approaching too.
Straighten inside the bay
When the car comes parallel with the lines, take the lock off and creep back until the whole car is inside the bay. Use the lines in your mirrors to check you’re central.
Drive out when asked
Driving out is the easy bit — normal observation, and don’t steer until your back wheels are clear of the bay line, or the rear of the car will cut across the neighbouring bay.
Common faults
- Fixating on one mirror and missing what’s happening on the other side.
- Finishing crooked or across a line and leaving it uncorrected.
- Steering too early on the way out and swinging the rear over the next bay.
Instructor tip
Reference points get you close; your mirrors make it accurate. If the lines look uneven in the mirrors, straighten first, then creep back.
Pull up on the right and rejoin
You cross to the right-hand side of the road, stop at the kerb, reverse back about two car lengths, then rejoin the traffic. It feels unnatural — you’re deliberately parking against the flow — which is exactly why the examiner wants to see your judgement.
Find a safe gap
Mirrors first, signal right if it helps anyone, and only cross when the road is genuinely clear both ways. Oncoming traffic has priority — wait for a proper gap rather than a hopeful one.
Pull up close to the right kerb
Stop parallel with and reasonably close to the kerb, then secure the car. Don’t stop opposite a junction or driveway if you can help it.
Reverse two car lengths
Reverse slowly and straight, keeping close to the kerb. Continuous observation matters most here: out of the rear window as the priority, with regular checks ahead and over both shoulders — traffic can pass you on either side now.
Rejoin when clear
This is the highest-risk moment: you’re pulling away across the road from a standing start. Check every mirror and both blind spots, wait for a clear gap in both directions, and rejoin the left side decisively.
Common faults
- Crossing to the right with oncoming traffic too close.
- Drifting away from the kerb during the reverse.
- Pulling away again with a half-check — this rejoin needs your fullest observation of the whole test.
Instructor tip
On rural Norfolk roads the gaps between cars can be long — use that. There’s no prize for choosing the first gap; examiners reward the safe one.
Emergency stop (controlled stop)
The examiner asks you to stop the car as if a child had stepped out: promptly, safely and under full control. Since 24 November 2025 it comes up on roughly 1 in 7 tests (it used to be 1 in 3), so most people won’t get it — but everyone should be able to do it, because one day it won’t be an exercise.
Wait for the signal
The examiner explains it first: they’ll pull you over, tell you the exercise is coming, then later raise a hand and say “Stop”. Don’t anticipate it — just drive normally until the signal.
Brake firmly and progressively
Both hands stay on the wheel. Squeeze the brake firmly and quickly — don’t stamp — and let the car pull up in a straight line. No mirror checks first; in a real emergency there’s no time.
Clutch just before you stop
In a manual, the clutch goes down just before the car stops. Too early and you lose engine braking; in an automatic, just brake.
Secure, then move off properly
Handbrake on, neutral. When the examiner asks you to drive on, remember you’re stopped in the middle of the road: check over both shoulders before moving away.
Common faults
- Checking mirrors before braking — reaction time is the whole point.
- Clutch down before the brake, coasting the car to a stop.
- Moving off afterwards with only a normal one-side check.
Instructor tip
Modern cars with ABS want one firm, continuous squeeze — keep your foot on and steer if you need to. If the pedal pulses under your foot, that’s the ABS working, not something breaking.
Turn in the road (not tested — still worth learning)
The classic “three-point turn” was removed from the driving test in December 2017, so you won’t be asked to do it on the day. We still teach it, because real life will ask you to do it: Norfolk is full of narrow lanes and dead ends where turning round in the road is the only option.
Choose a sensible spot
Somewhere with good visibility, no junctions or driveways, and enough width. Check mirrors and signal before slowing.
Forward leg
From the left kerb, full observation, then move slowly across the road steering briskly right. As the far kerb approaches, steer left just before you stop.
Reverse leg
Reverse gear, all-round observation, then back slowly across the road steering left, looking mainly through the rear window. Steer right just before stopping at the first kerb.
Drive away
Forward gear, observation both ways, and drive off on the correct side. If the road is too narrow for three points, five points is fine — slow and observant beats tight and rushed.
Instructor tip
The skills inside this manoeuvre — clutch control, steering briskly at creeping speed, constant observation — are exactly what the tested manoeuvres are built from. That’s why it’s still a brilliant lesson exercise.
Want to see how these fit into the test itself? Read our test day guide next, or brush up on the road signs and Highway Code rules you’ll meet on the way round.