Where to start

Home--Links page--Costs page--where to start--Starting the Blue book--Advice??--Diary--Diary - 1/1/02 Onwards--Diary 1/1/04 onwards--Diary 14/07/05 onwards--Driving Test--My First day

    The first thing you need to do is to visit the public carriage office in Penton street and obtain an application form, do not expect to walk in the door or be able to look around too much as the door guard will give you a form to fill in, what you do need is your birth certificate and DVLA driving licence. As  I was not prepared for this I had to return home and come back on a later date!

    The next thing I had to think about was a bike, fortunately I knew someone who had recently had given up trying to do the knowledge, as he had got a new job and was unable to devote the time to the runs, he had grown disillusioned, and at his last appearance, the examiner advised him to either devote more time to this or give it up.

Because of this I was able to buy his bike and other bits, which saved me a lot of time and effort looking around, and possibly buying a dud bike, but this had also meant that I have had to ride a bike for the first time in 20 years, but with a little practice!! who knows. The next thing I will need is to take my CBT. http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/rdmcycle.htm which will legally allow me to ride, And to obtain insurance, which some companies did not want to do as I had not yet taken the CBT (helpful). The CBT appears to be priced at around £80 for the day, using my own bike.

    This I have now completed, in all it took a day to complete, from about 9am to 5pm and the instructors walk you through the controls and correct usage and basic driving skills, after practicing we were taken onto the road for an hour and lead the convoy of other bikers to ensure you are driving correctly and confident, I must admit to being a little sceptical before I started, but by the end of the day my opinions had changed and found the test to be very useful.

    I finally got myself together and went to Penton street, with the required paperwork filled in, At this stage you have to apply for either the Green or Yellow badge, "all London or suburbs" the whole process took about 45 mins due to the queue that day (24/07/01) and was given a form for my doctor to fill in for the medical.

   The medical needs to be returned within 28 days of the application.

    You then have to wait while the PCO do a check on you (clean record etc) and as long as your accepted will get an invitation to the PCO for a chat. There, one of the examiners will run you through what is expected of you and you get an opportunity to ask any questions, You need to dress smartly and be on time. And are also given a application form, using this you have two years in which to apply for the written test after which time the PCO will take your name off the books and you would have to apply again.

   From sending the form in there is approximately an eight week wait before you get your invitation (24/09/01), there is no reason why if you have either got the blue book runs, or purchased the Wizann runs that you cannot start as soon as you are ready.

New versus Old

When I first started, the guy I got the bike from also gave me copies of "Wizann's" runs, and I was not going to buy anything until the new year, Then I became aware that a new version was coming out. Now we find out the new version of runs are different and that the testing process is different, Instead of the 400 runs, candidates from Feb 02 will be doing 320 runs with a test after 80, I am among those who have started within the last six months who are annoyed that the change has come now, On the face of it looks as though the new system may be easier, I only hope that the PCO have made it fair for all, The end of the day I have no choice but to get on with it--- we will see.

** After completing list 4 (run 64) I laid out list 5 on the map and can see why they needed to change it, some of the runs do not link up at all, although they could have left the amount of runs the same!**

The new Blue book is laid out into 5 modules covering the 320 runs, after going through the old book I think I would prefer to pick up points at the start and finish rather than as you go along, as it is too easy to miss them.

Those following the new book still have a map test although is  on radius maps rather than a particular section and I believe you have about 5 maps you have to place points on, from there you will go onto appearances

Update 17/07/06

It appears that the carriage office is again investigating changing the system, they are looking to put 100 people on a pilot scheme, this will have a different testing process and is recommended only to people who can devote 24/7 to this, at the moment this is only a trial, we shall wait and see.