I have a retest booked for 5th April at Ipswich Test Centre. My last test was taken at Norwich due to a mistake with the booking of the course, so I asked for my retest to be at my local test centre.
This is really a question for those who have taken their test at Ipswich, can anyone give me a heads up on the test route for Ipswich? And seeing as my test is at 8.30am, bang in the middle of rush hour, is this likely to have a negative or positive effect on my test?
SuffolkLad:
And seeing as my test is at 8.30am, bang in the middle of rush hour, is this likely to have a negative or positive effect on my test?
Some argue that it’s easier as you’re likely to spend a lot of time stuck in traffic so won’t have the chance to make errors, but you never can predict how your own test will go 
I passed at Ipswich. Some of the test routes are a bit of a git, and i know it sounds simple, but if you drive properly, you’ll pass.
The examiner i had was an ex squaddie and bit of a strict guy, but other than that he was cool to be be around
I found Ipswich a decent place for learning and test, better and less busy than Chelmsford where I did my class 2. A couple of tricky ones but use your loaf and nothing too severe.
Cheers for the replies. Being a local lad, and knowing what the traffic is like at that time in the morning, especially around Ransomes Ind Est, I’m hoping I spend more time sitting in traffic than driving, lol. I failed the last test on reversing, the actual driving was fine.
SuffolkLad:
Cheers for the replies. Being a local lad, and knowing what the traffic is like at that time in the morning, especially around Ransomes Ind Est, I’m hoping I spend more time sitting in traffic than driving, lol. I failed the last test on reversing, the actual driving was fine.
Being local you could lose the rear view car mirror and drive around pretending you are in a truck
If you find yourself in the right lane of two then ask yourself why you did not use the left lane which the examiner would expect you to do on test
It is surprising how different things become when you start driving and thinking as a LGV driver - you also tend to find out what you missed all these years of driving around as a car driver because as a car driver you could get away with it !!
Brakes … try not to use them or use gears to slow down instead - that means observing and planning much more in advance so you can simply ease off the gas to slow right down