Summary
The guidance driving examiners follow when they carry out driving tests in Great Britain. It's sometimes known as the 'DT1'.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
You can read this guidance if you want to understand the processes that driving examiners follow and how they make decisions about faults made in driving tests.
Contents
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Guidance for driving examiners carrying out the practical and extended driving tests for cars.
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Guidance for driving examiners carrying out motorcycle tests.
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Guidance for driving examiners carrying out medium and large goods vehicle and passenger carrying vehicle tests.
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Guidance for driving examiners carrying out tractor and specialist vehicle driving tests (categories F, G, H and K).
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Guidance for driving examiners on the Driver CPC part 4 practical safety demonstration test.
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Guidance for driving examiners on general operational matters.
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Guidance for driving examiners on particular types of vehicle and adaptations.
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Guidance for driving examiners on candidates with a disability, health condition or learning difficulty.
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Guidance for driving examiners on the Data Protection Act.
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Guidance for driving examiners on accidents and legal procedures, and other non-operational matters
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Guidance for driving examiners on assessment and marking of driving tests.
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Guidance for driving examiners on recording faults under the correct heading on the digital test report.
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Vehicle safety questions ('show me, tell me' questions) used by driving examiners in car driving tests, motorcycle tests, vocational driving tests, and tractor and specialist vehicle driving tests (including Highway Code questions).
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Guidance for driving examiners on the wording to use in all categories of driving tests.
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A flowchart showing when a candidate will be issued with a manual or automatic licence for categories C and D.
Update history
2025-05-08 16:14
Car driving test – Updated section 1.12 with information about comparing the driving licence number against the digital test report.
2025-02-13 11:13
Candidates with a disability, health condition or learning difficulty – Updated section 8.07 (Licence restriction codes) to add more information about code 35 (modified control layouts) and code 40 (modified steering).
2025-01-13 13:18
General technical matters – Added information about accompanying drivers to section 6.52 – Instructors or friends – during the test.
2024-12-17 10:54
Candidates with a disability, health condition or learning difficulty – Added note to section 8.07 – License restriction codes – 32 – Combined service brake and accelerator systems.
2024-12-05 12:00
Annex 5: Taxi test cabology questions and taxi specifications – This section has been withdrawn because the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) stopped providing taxi driving assessments for local councils on 1 January 2017. Other organisations, such as road safety charities and driving instructor organisations, can carry out taxi assessments.
2022-11-21 08:44
Accident and legal procedures, and other non-operational matters – Updated the contact details for DVSA press office in section 8.27 (publications, statements to the media).
2022-06-21 15:36
Annex 7: Test wordings (all categories) – Updated A7.01 Test wordings for cars (all vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes).
2022-03-02 13:39
Annex 7: Test wordings (all categories) – The changes made to A7.01 (Test wordings for cars (all vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes)) on 1 March 2022 were incorrectly published. The changes have been removed.
2022-03-01 08:42
Annex 7: Test wordings (all categories) – ## A7.01 Test wordings for cars (all vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes) – updated to reflect the recent changes to the test