Reverse into an angled bay

Watch it, then drive it

1. 1

   Watch the official video

   DVSA's short guide to the four manoeuvre skills the examiner looks for.

   

   From the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on YouTube. Free to watch.

   More videos on YouTube↗
2. 2

   Drive it with the coach

   Guided mode puts the reference points on screen and stops you the moment you drift.

   Practise this in the simulator
3. 3

   Test yourself

   Test mode says nothing and marks you in the examiner's words. Three clean runs in a row and it is learnt.

What is marked here

Not on the driving test, so there is no examiner's box. The simulator marks it the way it marks the test manoeuvres: control, observation and accuracy, with the same grades. A clip of the kerb or a rough finish is minor; touching something or finishing outside the target is serious.

How it differs from driving in

Driving in, you turn once, forward, towards the way you are already going. Reversing in, the bays lean against the traffic and you drive past them first. The car then swings back through 60 degrees on full lock, so the nose sweeps out across the aisle while the tail goes into the bay. The aisle here is 5 m, a little wider than for driving in, for that reason.

Reference points

Drive past your bay at walking pace, in the middle of the aisle. Stop when the end of the second line past your bay is level with the front of your rear wheel. Select reverse and check all round, both shoulders and the back window. Full lock to the left and look over your left shoulder: the back of the car swings into the bay and the nose swings out across the aisle. When the car is in line with the bay, stop, straighten the wheel and reverse back until the whole car is inside the lines.

Why those points

The car is a 4.04 m hatchback and the bays are 2.4 m by 4.8 m at 60 degrees to the aisle. Full lock puts the rear axle on a 3.56 m circle. Reversing through 60 degrees on full lock moves the rear axle back 3.1 m and 1.8 m towards the bays. The straight reverse that follows then carries it onto the middle of the bay, which puts the starting stop about 5.4 m beyond the middle of your bay. That is the front of your rear wheel level with the end of the second line past it. It is arithmetic, not a saying.

Common faults

Minor and serious follow the simulator's marking, which copies the examiner's grading. Serious: swinging the nose into something on the far side of the aisle. Fix: look at the front as well as the back before the car swings, and stop if anything is close. Serious: clipping the car beside the bay as the tail goes in. Fix: look over your nearside shoulder and use the mirror, and stop as soon as the gap closes. Serious: reversing without all-round observation. Fix: both shoulders, the rear window and the blind spot before the car moves, then keep looking. Serious: finishing outside the lines, more than 35 cm off centre or more than 12 degrees out. Fix: straighten the wheel when the bay lines are square behind you. Minor, then serious: too many corrections (three, then six here). Fix: one clean swing, then one straight reverse.

If it goes wrong

Stop. Look all round. Pull forward to straighten up in the aisle and start again from the stop point. Never carry on hoping, and give way to anyone who walks across behind you.

How you practise it here

Watch drives it for you with the commentary running, so you see the whole thing once before you touch anything. Steering only takes the pedals and gears off you, the way an instructor does on the first lesson: a mark on the wheel shows when to turn and how far. Guided puts the reference points on screen and stops you the moment you drift. Test says nothing and marks you in the words the examiner uses. Three clean Test runs in a row counts as learned, and it comes back two days, a week and three weeks later so it is still there on the day.

Step by step

These are the words the simulator says to you, in order, the same commentary you would get from the passenger seat.

1. 1Walking pace down the one-way aisle, in the middle of the lane. This time you drive past the bay and reverse in.
2. 2Stop when the end of the second line past your bay is level with the front of your rear wheel.
3. 3Reverse gear. Check all round before you move: both shoulders, and out of the back window.
4. 4Full lock to the left: the back of the car swings into the bay. Look over your left shoulder.
5. 5Halfway round. Watch the front: the nose swings out across the aisle.
6. 6In line with the bay. Stop and straighten the wheel.
7. 7Wheels straight. Reverse back until the whole car is inside the lines.
8. 8That's the bay. Stop here and tap Finished.

Common questions