The reverse exercise is normally done before the road drive but it can be done at the end occasionally for several reasons, especially at a busy test centre with several examiners all using the same reversing area.
The DL25 has 2 marking areas for the reverse. Control and Observation.
CONTROL - You will receive a serious fault for control if either any of the vehicle tyres COMPLETELY crosses the area boundary lines (touching a line would be marked as a driving fault) Or making contact with any cone or marker pole Or not finishing with the rear of the vehicle within the yellow/black hatched area before the barrier Or taking too many forward shunts to re-position the vehicle. There are 2 types of forward shunt, a comfort shunt which was not really necessary will not be marked or a corrective shunt which is taken to correct a misjudgement will receive a driving fault. There is no set limit to the number of shunts permitted but generally 2 should be regarded as the maximum. Touching the barrier at the back is Not a fault provided the barrier is fully upright at the end of the exercise.
OBSERVATION - All round observation should be maintained throughout the entire exercise to avoid receiving a fault. The examiner can only mark the fault once and will wait until the exercise is over before deciding the weight of the fault.
IMPORTANT
All actions are judged in 1 of the following fault weights
No Fault
Fault not worthy of recording
Driving fault
Serious fault
Dangerous fault
Either of the last 2 will result in failing the test
That’s exactly correct Peter. The legs of the barrier can lift off the ground then return to normal position as the vehicle moves slightly forward. This simulates what happens at a loading bay.
1 more point on this subject is that the driver can exit the vehicle to check his vehicle position but only the once. This can be done at any point after the vehicle starts moving backwards but is usually done towards the end of the exercise to make sure the vehicles furthest rear point is within the 0.75 mtr marked area. (1 mtr for PCV vehicles).
That’s very helpful for the readers, thanks. Just one more tiny detail: the driver completes his reverse, walks to the back and sees the barrier is leaning. He returns to the cab, eases forward a few inches. What mark would this generate?
Peter to clarify the point about touching the barrier, the rear of the vehicle MUST finish within the boundary lines. Therefore if a driver got out and checked and the barrier was leaning backwards it would mean the truck was over the line. He would have to move forwards to get back within the area limits. As assessment is made after the exercise ends it would be marked serious with the barrier leaning and most likely not worthy of recording if all was good.
On the reverse you can get out and have a look if you are in doubt when reversing between the A/A1 and B cones, this is as well as leaving the cab to check whether the rear is in the bay.
Not a well known fact but ask an examiner. Its what you would do in real life so has been replicated into the test, DVSA just don’t advertise it.
Hussar you are 100% correct. You can get out and check before cone B becomes visible. I didn’t mention this because personally I have never seen this done and thought it might add confusion to the subject. It would be difficult to teach because at what point would you actually get out. There’s a lot going on with steering, observation, checking the boundary lines etc.
Unless this element has been fully explained and practised during training I doubt many trainers would recommend it.
Interesting point made about hitting the rear barrier. We’ve had a couple or so fail in the last few months for hitting that. Not knocked over but nudging it. As you say… the feet have slightly lifted but never enough to tip it over. Each time the examiner (s) have shouted stop! And not given time to the candidate to sort their FINAL position out. Seems a slightly grey area!
Boris1971:
Does touching the line with the tyre but not going over it always receive a minor fault?
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John will probably clarify exactly but from experience an examiner has made an exception or so depending on how much he touches and if observation etc is spot on.
It is important to remember that every action throughout the entire test falls into 1 of 5 fault levels. The tyre touching a line is a reversing CONTROL fault so for example -
No fault - the tyre does not touch the line
Fault not worthy of recording - the tyre only just touches the line with a small part of the tyre for a very short time
Driving fault - most of the tyre runs along the line for a distance
Serious fault - the whole of the tyre crosses the whole of the line with a gap between the two
Dangerous fault - the tyre crosses the line by so much that there is a likelihood of the truck colliding with something
The same principle can be applied to every action taken throughout the test.
