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Firstly you will have to apply to the (Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority) or your local post office for a form get you provisional license, the cost now stand at £50 which will include upgrade to a full license when you pass your driving test. The provisional license will take approx 2 weeks to arrive but you should allow 4 weeks before chasing it up.

Once you have received you license the next thing to do will be to find a good local instructor. You can search through a telephone directory to find your local instructor but it is worth talking to friends or family to see if they recommend an instructor. When you have found your instructor you should start to practice for your theory test.

The theory test comprises of two parts – The first is the multiple choice questions of which you will have to answer 43 out of 50 questions. These questions are picked randomly from a bank of 970 and cover 14 different chapters. The second part of the test is the hazard perception test. In this you will be looking at a series of video clips in which you will have to click on the mouse when you see a hazard that you would react to when driving. Your instructor should be able to provide books or cd’s or access to online materials to help study for this and is worth taking advice on this first.

Once you have has passed the theory test you will receive a theory certificate which will allow you to apply for your practical test, the certificate lasts for 2 years so you must take the practical in this time otherwise you will have to re-sit the theory part again.

Once the theory test has been passed who will then be looking toward the practical test. This test takes place in the instructors car and will last for approximately 40 minutes. During the test the examiner will ask you to perform 2 out of 4 manoeuvres such as parking or reversing around a corner, you may also be asked to perform a hill start or an emergency stop. At the end of the test there is a chance for a debrief this is mainly used if the candidate has failed and needs to understand why and how to improve for the next attempt and your instructor can sit in on this to help later on. If you are successful in passing you will be issued a pass certificate which will act as your driving license until the real one comes through the post which will take approximately 2 – 4 weeks.

Once passed you are on a 2 year probation period and during that time if you incur 6 penalty points or more you will be required to re-sit the theory test and practical test all over again, this has been introduced to reduce the number of accidents new driver have in the first 2 years of driving.