It is one of the more surprising questions I get asked by learner drivers:
“Are the driving examiners in Sevenoaks nice?”
I completely understand why people ask. When you’re already nervous about your driving test, the thought of spending 40 minutes sitting next to a stern, intimidating examiner isn’t particularly appealing.
Having sat in the back of more than 100 driving tests in Sevenoaks, I can give you a fairly definitive answer.
Yes. In my experience, the driving examiners in Sevenoaks are really nice people.
And having looked more deeply into how driving examiners are recruited, trained and assessed, there is actually rather more behind this than Sevenoaks simply happening to have a nice group of people.
Driving examiners are normal people
It’s easy to forget this when you’re sitting nervously in the waiting room.
The examiner isn’t an intimidating authority figure who has arrived at work looking for people to fail. They’re a normal person who happens to have a very responsible job to do.
From what I’ve observed in Sevenoaks, they’re generally friendly, approachable people who want candidates to feel comfortable.
That doesn’t mean they’ll overlook mistakes because they like you. Being friendly and being a fair examiner are two completely different things.
Customer service is part of becoming an examiner
One of the most interesting things I discovered when researching this subject was just how much importance DVSA places on customer service.
People applying to become driving examiners currently undertake a specific customer-service assessment, looking at how they communicate with candidates, provide excellent customer service and maintain professional standards.
At interview, prospective examiners are also assessed on Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service and Making Effective Decisions.
Perhaps most tellingly, DVSA recognises that candidates will be nervous and specifically looks for people with a calm, reassuring manner who can put them at ease.
That’s remarkably similar to what I’ve witnessed sitting in the back of real driving tests.
Examiners receive substantial training
Becoming an examiner isn’t simply a case of being a good driver, learning the test routes and being handed a clipboard.
Current DVSA recruitment information says new driving examiners undertake an intensive six-week full-time training programme, combining structured learning with practical experience.
Current training documentation also shows customer-service fundamentals alongside the technical aspects of conducting and assessing driving tests.
Historically, DVSA’s predecessor, the DSA, was even more explicit. Its published training material described customer-care training both in the classroom and in the car, including role-playing different types of customers and assessing new examiners on their customer care.
So treating candidates properly has long been considered part of being a professional driving examiner.
Your examiner knows you’re nervous
This is something I’d particularly like nervous candidates to understand.
Your examiner knows you’re nervous.
You’re certainly not the first nervous person they’ve met. In fact, the recruitment criteria specifically recognise that candidates are likely to be nervous and that examiners need the interpersonal skills to put them at ease.
So if your hands are shaking slightly in the waiting room, don’t worry about what your examiner is thinking. They’ve seen it countless times before.
Don’t be surprised if they talk to you
Some examiners can be surprisingly conversational. They may ask what you do for work, where you go to school, what you’re studying or what you’re doing at the weekend.
In my experience, there isn’t a hidden motive behind this. They’re human beings spending most of their working day sitting beside different people in cars. Having a pleasant conversation makes their working day more enjoyable too.
Of course, every examiner has a different personality. Some naturally talk more than others. And if you’d rather concentrate on your driving than talk, that’s perfectly acceptable too.
A nice examiner isn’t an easy examiner
This is probably the most important distinction in the whole article.
Friendly doesn’t mean lenient.
An examiner can be extremely pleasant while simultaneously making a completely objective assessment of your driving.
DVSA’s current guidance states that examiners are trained to assess driving tests to a uniform standard, with standards set by the Chief Driving Examiner. Their assessment is also maintained through ongoing development, supervision and quality assurance.
So ideally, there shouldn’t really be such a thing as hoping for the “easy examiner” and avoiding the “strict examiner”.
You may prefer one examiner’s personality to another, but the standard against which your driving is assessed is supposed to remain consistent.
The examiners are assessed too
Another thing many learners probably don’t realise is that the examiner is subject to quality control too.
DVSA has quality-control and quality-assurance procedures designed to make sure tests are conducted properly and consistently. Its current guidance discusses supervision and development for new examiners, regular quality assurance and checks of completed test reports to make sure assessments are consistent and accurately recorded.
So the examiner sitting beside you isn’t making up their own rules. They’re working within a national system of training, assessment standards, procedures and quality assurance.
They don’t want to fail you
There is no advantage to an examiner in failing somebody who deserves to pass.
Their job isn’t to find enough faults to justify a failure. It’s to observe your driving and make a professional judgement about whether you’ve demonstrated the required standard.
Equally, there is considerable responsibility attached to passing somebody.
Think about what an examiner is effectively saying when they give somebody a pass:
“Based on the driving I have just observed, I believe this person is safe to continue driving without an instructor or accompanying driver sitting beside them.”
They want to finish their working day knowing they’ve made fair decisions. They don’t want to prevent a safe driver from gaining their licence, but equally they don’t want somebody driving independently if they’ve demonstrated that they aren’t ready.
And fundamentally, that’s their job.
What if they fail me?
If you’re unsuccessful, try not to take it personally.
Your examiner hasn’t failed you because they don’t like you. They haven’t developed a personal vendetta against you during the previous 40 minutes, and being unsuccessful doesn’t mean the examiner is a nasty person.
They have simply assessed the drive you produced on that particular day.
Listen carefully to their explanation, work out what happened, learn from it and come back better prepared next time. I’ve seen plenty of candidates be unsuccessful and subsequently return to Sevenoaks and pass.
You don’t need the examiner to like you
You don’t need to impress your examiner either.
You don’t need to make them laugh or have a fascinating conversation. You certainly don’t need to spend 40 minutes trying to work out whether they like you.
None of that is being assessed.
You’re there to demonstrate that you can drive safely and independently.
If the examiner is particularly chatty and you enjoy talking to them, great. If you exchange little more than the instructions required to conduct the test, that’s absolutely fine too.
So, are the Sevenoaks examiners nice?
Based on more than 100 driving tests that I’ve personally observed in Sevenoaks, yes, absolutely.
My overwhelming experience is of friendly, professional and approachable people who want candidates to have as pleasant an experience as possible while still conducting a fair driving test.
And having researched how DVSA recruits and trains its examiners, that makes sense.
Customer service is assessed during recruitment. New examiners undergo substantial training. They’re expected to communicate professionally with nervous candidates. They’re trained to apply a uniform assessment standard, and their work is subject to ongoing development and quality assurance.
I don’t believe Sevenoaks has a monopoly on nice driving examiners either. Some examiners I’ve known in Sevenoaks have subsequently moved on to other test centres, including Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone, and I’d hope candidates there have similarly positive experiences.
But Sevenoaks is where my experience lies, so it’s the place I can speak about with some authority.
After sitting in the back of more than 100 driving tests here, my advice to anyone worrying about their examiner is simple:
Stop worrying about whether they’re going to be nice. They almost certainly will be.
Concentrate instead on the part you can control. Turn up properly prepared, drive the way you’ve been trained to drive and remember that the person sitting beside you isn’t looking for an excuse to fail you.
They’re a professionally trained examiner whose job is simply to make a fair assessment of whether you’re ready to drive by yourself.