Parallel/Reverse Park

This is one manoeuvre that you may be asked to do on the driving test.

This is when you are asked to park your car behind another vehicle.

You will start by pulling over on the left behind the vehicle you will perform the manoeuvre on.

Then the examiner will ask you to pull up beside the vehicle and park your car within two car lengths of the vehicle in front. (two car lengths here means if you include your car as one car length then the space between your car and the car in front should not exceed one average car length).

Once you’ve prepared the car and done the safety checks and its clear, you can pull forward and stop beside the vehicle. It’s always a good idea to be slightly ahead of your reference point and around a metre (an open car doors width) from the vehicle.

Once you’ve prepared your vehicle to reverse and done you checks you can start reversing as soon as it’s safe to do so. It’s up to you whether you choose to stop at your reference points or continue but we recommend going at a slow (clutch control) pace giving you plenty of time to check regularly around you and ensuring you don’t miss your points of turn.

It’s vital that you are checking around regularly ensuring that is safe to continue. If you are likely to affect any road users or pedestrians then it’s usually best to pause until it’s safe to continue. (Unless you are obstructing other road users then in this case you should either continue to complete the exercise or drive on and the examiner will find you another car to complete the exercise on.)

Your car is expected to finish in a straight line, parallel with the kerb, up to a steering wheels width from the kerb with your wheels straight and no more than two car lengths from the vehicle in front.

Once you have finished the exercise its always good practice to place the car in to neutral (or park for automatic) and raise the handbrake. This way the examiner knows that you have finished the exercise.

If you are not satisfied at any stage of this exercise then you are allowed to pull forward to correct the manoeuvre and please feel free to do so as parking your car incorrectly may lead to a serious fault on your driving test.