SCOTLAND’S WORST driver failed her test 25 times before being let loose on the road following her 26th attempt.
The female learner spent up to £1950 on 26 practical tests and took each one in the Anniesland test centre in Glasgow.
After four years of taking the 45-minute test, she eventually became a fully-licensed driver.
One woman took 26 attempts to gain a full licence
Her male counterpart, also from Glasgow, took a staggering 22 attempts to graduate from a provisional licence, at a cost of up to £1650.
The poor test record was revealed following a freedom of Information request to the Driving Standards Agency (DSA).
But other drivers struggled to get as far as their practical exam.
One man had to take his theory test 34 times before he passed.
The anonymous driver attempted the multiple choice test over a period of three years and spent a whopping £1054 on the tests overall before he eventually passed inGlasgow.
And his female equivalent had to take her theory test 31 times before she passed.
She also sat her test in Glasgow and took four years to move on to the practical exam.
But it wasn’t just car-drivers who buckled under pressure, as one light goods vehicle (LGV) driver attempted his theory test 16 times in one year before he passed in Edinburgh.
The driver had to shell out £800 on the theory test over the 12-month period.
Motorbike
While the worst motorcyclist on the road had to take his £31 theory test 15 times before he could move on to the two-part practical test for bikes.
The biker took three years to pass the test in Stornoway, while his female counterpart attempted the test seven times before she passed within a year inDunfermline.
And more worryingly, one passenger-carrying-vehicle (PCV) test candidate had to take his theory test eight times inGlasgowbefore eventually passing.
The PCV driver, also known as a bus or coach driver, had to fork out £400 on his theory tests before he could take his practical part of the exam.
The driving theory test was first introduced in July 1996 and includes 50 multiple choice questions, of which 43 must be answered correctly.
The second part of the test, introduced in 2002, is called Hazard Perception and requires the driver to watch a clip and point out hazards on the road.
But today, a driving instructor blasted the most recent driving tests as “irrelevant.”
Jonathan Smith, manager of Drive Me Bananas driving school in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, said that drivers would “need a PHD” to pass the test nowadays.
“The theory test is just a memory test. It’s not relevant to the road and it punishes people who aren’t academically minded and people who don’t have good memories.
“The way things are going, drivers will need a PHD to pass their test. I had a student who had failed her test 13 times before she came to me.
Nervous
“She passed on her first test with me but the only reason she kept failing was because she was so nervous.
“The reason why so many people are failing will definitely come down to nerves. It’s not because they can’t drive or don’t know the rules of the road.
The driving school manager also said that drivers also have to spend too much money on passing their tests.
“Lorry drivers are spending more than £3000 on getting their license and it’s not right. It’s just another way for the Government to make money,” he said.
Andrew Howard, head of road safety with AA, said: “When you’ve got a statutory part of the test, it must be statutory. Should we have to raise the pass rate levels for those who are taking their test numerous times? It’s a very difficult policy decision to make.
“You must take into consideration that some people are phenomenally nervous in exam situations and that plays a big part in their performance.
“Knowing what to do in a situation is very different when you are actually there, because there is a lot of pressure involved.
“Unless we want the more academically inclined drivers to rule the road, we need to keep an eye on these tests.
“Fundamentally it is a driving test but a balance must be struck so that it does not become a test of academia.”
Death
The news of test failures comes just as a learner driver was cleared last month of causing his girlfriend’s death in a crash two years ago.
Student Euan Tennant, 22, lost control of his sports car and crashed into another motor near Perth in 2010.
Tennant walked away from the wreckage but his girlfriend sustained head injuries and later died from her injuries.
The driver had denied causing her death by careless driving in Perth Sheriff Courtat the time, and walked free on March 21.
