Six-Month Minimum Learning Period for Learner Drivers, Safety Measure or Queue Control?
Parallel parking is a shape, not a guess
Drive past the gap, stop beside the car in front, then reverse in. Five steps, and the steering wheel only ever makes four turns.
One full turn each time, in that order. It finishes with the wheels exactly where they started.
How to parallel park, step by step
Each diagram is a schematic. Nothing is to scale, and your own reference points will shift a little with the car you drive and where your seat is set.
Line up beside the car in front
Drive past the gap and pull up alongside the car you are parking behind, about a door's width out from it. Your left door mirror should be level with the front of that car, and your front wheels should be straight.
Handbrake on, reverse gear in so your reversing lights show, then a good look all round before anything moves.
Reverse back, then one turn left
Look back through the rear passenger window and reverse slowly. When the back of the car in front reaches the middle of that window, take one full turn left on the steering wheel.
Walking pace on the clutch. If you need to stop and look, stop and look.
Let the back swing in, then one turn right
Keep reversing and the back of your car comes round towards the kerb. When the car reaches about forty five degrees, one full turn right brings the wheels back to straight.
Your nose swings out into the road as this happens, so look forward as well as back.
Clear the corner, then one turn right
Reverse straight on that angle until your front wing is past the back of the car in front. Then one full turn right, which swings the front of your car in towards the kerb.
Watch the kerb in your left mirror from here on.
Straighten up and stop
As the car comes parallel with the kerb, one full turn left puts the wheels straight again. Stop with room in front and behind you, then handbrake, neutral and a last look around.
Leave the car behind you enough space to get out.
If it goes wrong on the day
A parallel park that needs a correction is not a failed parallel park. The guidance examiners work to says so plainly.
You stop, look round, or wait for a car to pass. That is good driving, and the examiner is marking observation and consideration for other road users.
You pull forward once and have another go. The guidance calls this repositioning to correct a loss of control or accuracy. One mark, and you can pass with up to fifteen of those.
You shunt again and again with no plan. Described as excessive repositioning to correct a complete misjudgement, or a significant loss of control.
You finish somewhere you would not have chosen. Too far out, badly angled, or blocking the car behind. In the bay park version, finishing outside the bay is named as a serious fault.
Fault wording from the DVSA guidance for driving examiners, DT1, section 11.
Parallel parking, answered plainly
Most of the fear around this manoeuvre comes from not knowing what is actually allowed.
Is parallel parking still part of the UK driving test?
Yes. It is one of three possible reversing exercises on the car practical test, alongside parking in a bay and pulling up on the right hand side of the road before reversing around two car lengths and rejoining the traffic. The examiner chooses one of the three on the day, so you may or may not be asked to parallel park.
Can you fail your driving test just for a bad parallel park?
Not for an untidy one. Repositioning the car to correct a loss of control or accuracy is recorded as a driving fault, and you can pass with up to fifteen driving faults. It becomes a serious fault when there is excessive repositioning to correct a complete misjudgement, a significant loss of control, or a final parking position that is clearly wrong.
Am I allowed to pull forward and try again?
Yes. Correcting yourself is permitted. One correction, made calmly and with the observation still in place, is marked as a driving fault and nothing worse. The problem is repeated shunting with no clear plan, because at that point the examiner is looking at a misjudgement of the whole manoeuvre rather than a single error.
Does touching the kerb fail your driving test?
The DVSA examiner guidance does not set a separate rule for touching the kerb during this exercise. It is assessed as part of control and accuracy. A light touch that you notice and correct sits at the driving fault end. Mounting or climbing the kerb is a loss of control, which is where it moves toward a serious fault.
Can I take my seatbelt off to parallel park?
Yes. The law says you do not need to wear a seat belt if you are a driver who is reversing, or if you are supervising a learner driver who is reversing. Most people find it easier to leave the belt on, but if taking it off helps you turn and look properly, that is allowed. Put it back on before you drive away.
How close to the kerb should I finish?
There is no official measurement. The standard is practical rather than numerical. The car should be close and parallel enough that it does not obstruct the road, does not force other drivers to steer around it, and can be reached from the pavement. If you would not be happy leaving your own car there, it is not finished.
At a glance
Parallel parking is one of three reversing exercises on the DVSA car practical driving test, the others being a bay park and pulling up on the right before reversing around two car lengths. The examiner asks for one of the three. The exercise is assessed on control, accuracy and effective all round observation. The steering sequence is one full turn left, one full turn right, one full turn right, then one full turn left. Repositioning the car to correct a loss of control or accuracy is a driving fault, and a candidate can pass with up to fifteen driving faults and no serious or dangerous faults. Excessive repositioning to correct a complete misjudgement, a significant loss of control, or a clearly wrong final parking position is a serious fault. There is no official measurement for how far from the kerb the car should finish. Drivers are exempt from wearing a seat belt while reversing, and so are supervising drivers. Oxon Driving Tuitions teaches manual and automatic lessons across Oxford and tests at the Oxford Cowley driving test centre on James Wolfe Road. Lessons run Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 21:00 and Saturday from 9:00 to 18:00, with no lessons on Sunday.
Get it sorted in the car, not on a page
Twenty minutes with an instructor beside you will do more for this manoeuvre than any amount of reading. We teach it the same way in manual and automatic, on real Oxford roads.
Testing at the Oxford Cowley test centre? Read up on
how faults are marked, or the
bay park on the Marsh Lane route.
Lessons in Headington,
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