“I took my daughter, Lucy, to the test centre in Burgess Hill, Sussex for her third attempt at her driving test. I managed to get a last minute cancellation and unfortunately her driving instructor wasn’t available to take her so she had to take the test in my 20-year-old VW Golf. I thought I had checked it thoroughly but on arrival, as she reversed into a parking bay, a man came over and said ‘your brake light is out’. Lucy and I looked at each other in disbelief as we knew this would be an instant fail.
Then, from round the corner, a man appeared. He said try giving the light a tap. It didn’t work. He then asked if I had any spare bulbs. I had a rummage in the glove compartment and pulled out a few old packs with one bulb left in each. Amazingly, one was a match!
I was in such a state by this time, with the minutes ticking away, I couldn’t begin to dismantle the bulb compartment. I asked the man if he could do it and in less than a minute the brake light was working. Lucy and I thanked him and hurried into the test centre with minutes to spare.
The test candidates were all taken off to their respective vehicles and the parents and/or instructors remained in the centre. I thanked him again and asked if his son was taking the test. He said no, he was an instructor. He then disappeared and I went off in search of coffee (which I didn’t need as I was already shaking like a leaf from the stress!). As I was ordering my flat white I regretted that I hadn’t even offered the kind man a coffee. When I got back to the test centre he was nowhere to be seen.
I then had a long nervous wait for Lucy to return. I could barely look at her face when she walked through the door but she gave me a discreet thumbs up (the room was now packed with the next round of candidates). I couldn’t hold back the tears of relief – I knew I wouldn’t have been able to go through that again!”
What a wonderful instructor to help out like that – a great act of kindness. Thanks Jane for sharing. And congratulations to Lucy on passing her driving test!