A POLICE officer has been caught on camera blocking a busy street for over a minute as they perform a 10-point turn – watched by laughing colleagues.
And to make matters even more embarrassing for the unfortunate driver, the clip was filmed by a driving instructor.
Satnam Singh Kamal was teaching a student when a member of West Midlands Police put on a display of not-very-advanced driving.
Two officers on foot openly laugh as the driver of the Vauxhall Insignia nervously shunts backwards and forwards in the street in Tipton.
Mr Kamal who runs The Driving Guru, believes the officer’s “ego” got the better of him.
Ironically, the police officer makes heavy weather of a manoeuvre that ceased to be part of the driving test this week.
At the start of the clip, the Vauxhall can be seen parked in the left lane, facing on-coming traffic with its blue lights flashing.
As Mr Kamal and his student stop and allow the police car to move forward, it becomes clear that the officer is going to attempt to turn around.
The officer is seen beginning the manoeuvre and swinging the front of the car towards the pavement.
Mr Kamal is then heard saying to his student: “Let’s see him do this.”
However, the experienced instructor can see that the officer has misjudged the gap and is too close to a parked car on the left.
He continues: “What an idiot”. The learner driver can then be heard asking “why?” as Mr Kamal explains what the driver has done wrong.
He adds: “He should have not really done it like that. He’s so close to the car. He looks stupid, look how many times he’s doing it.”
The instructor and his student can then be heard bursting into laughter as Mr Kamal realises he has caught the comical moment on camera.
He can be heard saying: “I’ve got it on camera, I’ve got it on camera. How to do a turn-in-the-road.”
Speaking about the clip Mr Kamal from West Bromwich said: “The student and I were discussing the new test and how it’s meant to reflect more real life scenarios.
“The officer seemed to be more interested in the conversation he was having with his colleague and goes straight into the manoeuvre without assessing the available space.
“Once he did realise the best option was to restart and try again, fortunately ego got the better of him and provided a good justification to have kept it as part of the test.”
Posting the funny footage online, the driving tutor wrote: “Oh dear oh dear #turnintheroad bet you this officer is happy that your no longer tested on it! Provided plenty of jokes for my student and I.”
Currently the clip has been viewed by nearly 10,000 social media users and with come viewers commenting and ridiculing the officer.
Adrian Wood wrote: “This person shouldn’t be on the road.”
Paul Gibson said: “Really? Jesus. Most could do better with a blind fold.”
Meg Privett commented: “It really shows that the Police no longer have extra training – but are driving in domestic licences.”
The new revamped driving test was introduced by the DVLA on Monday this week with four major changes.
The independent driving part of the test will increase from 10 minutes to 20 and during the independent driving part of the test, most candidates will be asked to follow directions from a sat nav.
The reverse around a corner and turn-in-the-road (three-point turn) manoeuvres will no longer be tested and instead candidates will be asked to do one of three possible reversing manoeuvres.
With the final change candidates will faced with is having to answer two vehicle safety questions while driving.
