I just passed my driving test first time! I’ve been a learner for a very, very long time (12 years give or take) but it took me this long to actually take the test. There always seemed to be some reason or other not to do it, either I was getting married, moving house, moving country or I was just too busy. To be honest, it didn’t take much for me to leave it on the backburner because I was a nervous driver and the thought of the test gave me the cold sweats.
Last summer I took a Start Your Own Business course with the Wicklow CEB and one of the other participants was a man called John Gibson, a policeman who had seen the effects of bad driving firsthand and wanted to set up a driving school inbetween his shift work as a guard. He is simply a lovely man and he had all of us greatly entertained so I made sure to get his business card at the end of the course.
When I finally had a date for my own test I got on the phone to John and with just 2 weeks to go before my appointment he was able to fit me in straight away. We had only 3 lessons during the past 2 weeks but for the first time it all clicked together for me and this morning I was nervous but confident. I took the test in the Orwell centre which has a bit of a reputation for having tough testers but I passed with just a few marks docked for being rusty with the clutch and gears (I usually drive an automatic).
I put it all down to John and this post is my way of thanking him. He doesn’t have a webpage so I’m hoping this post will send him a little bit of google love. I can’t recommend him highly enough and after 12 years and many other instructors both here and in the UK I feel qualified to judge! With his background as a policeman his whole focus is on safety and, as he says, if you’re safe then you’ll pass.
He’s based in Bray, his school is called Belmont Driving School and his phone number is 01-2762762. So if you know anyone that is about to start learning or has their test coming up then John’s the man to go to!
