Where can I park?

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.

Where you must not stop

Zig-zag lines at a pedestrian crossing: never, not even to drop someone off (Highway Code rule 240). Double yellow lines: no waiting at any time (rule 238). At or near a bus stop, on school keep clear markings, across a dropped kerb or in front of an entrance, within 10 metres of a junction, and opposite a traffic island (rule 243).

A good place

Plain kerb, no lines, nothing in the way of a driveway or a crossing, and room to pull out again. Close to the kerb, about a hand span, and parallel with it.

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. 1Find a place to stop on the left. Read the road as you go: yellow lines, zig-zags, bus stops, school markings and dropped kerbs all mean keep going.
2. 2This stretch has no markings and nothing in the way: you may stop here. Mirrors, signal left, and steer in gently.
3. 3Hold that angle. As the kerb comes close in your left mirror, steer back to the right.
4. 4Parallel with the kerb. Straighten the wheel and creep forward.
5. 5A legal place, close to the kerb. Cancel your signal, stop here and tap Finished.

Common questions